Sorakage
by Timberwolfe
Summary: In a time of ninja and the earth, who is really in charge of the world? Is it the land, the sky, the sea? Is it the strongest ninja or the outcast? Is it the power of many or the power of the few? No one knows, but we try to understand through romance and adventure.
1. The Life of a Ninja

**Sorakage**

**AN: Hello All of my readers and to all who are reading my story for the first time. I have been busy these past few months and that is because I have a new story for you! Yeah! Huzzah! etc... Apparently, two of my readers, who contacted me, thought I was dead as a writer and though they are unnamed now, they are the reason that I am releasing my story...Before it is completed! That means that I'll have to write frantically to keep ahead of the game.**

**First, some things to note, if you are a new reader, I ask you to please read the first chapters and then decide how you feel about it. Positive comments are always welcome. If I am a terrible writer, that could be a good reason to stop, but you who respond to me help me edit further chapters that I would have left as they are and worse off than they could have been.**

** This story is to be one of my masterpieces on this site, and I hope that you all enjoy it. I had simply started plotting the idea and then went to work writing it out. Want to know how long it is? Guess! Go on...I will tell you in the next chapter!**

**So , in all... Read a few of the chapters, review, guess, and be glad that I am back to serve you great tidings after the days of christmas and wish you all a happy new year!**

**Timberwolfe Writer now presents:**

**Sorakage Arc 1**

**Chap 1: The Life of a Ninja**

A young girl awoke to the sight of the sun shining intensely into her bedroom through her open window. She looked around her room, noticing that everything was as it should be; a desk which was covered in papers from a passed exam from a couple days ago, a couple kunai from her trajectory charts hanging on the wall, and below her on the ground were so many books that it could kill someone at the sheer size of it. Her mother had once replied that a messy girl was great in bed, but Sakura tried not to think about it too much, she being too young to really understand it.

The girl got up out of her bed, being careful to not trip over anything and made her way over to her closet. Slowly, the girl switched her pajamas out for a long red vest with a zipper zigzagging down the middle and some black shorts before covering them with a pink skirt that cover most of the shorts. As she finished, she looked at herself in the mirror and thought that she looked good before she walked out of her room and down the stairs to the kitchen for some breakfast.

"Sakura! Sweetheart! Breakfast is re-''

"Geez mom, I'm already here," Sakura groaned aloud as she covered her ears and turned the corner and walked into the dining area which was in the line of sight from the kitchen. As soon as she sat down in her usual chair, Sakura took the cereal box that was currently in front of her and shook it once for the tiniest bit of cereal to fall into her bowl.

"Sakura," Sakura's father chastised his only child and beloved daughter of thirteen years of age.

"But daddddd, my diet," Sakura tried to complain

"You're a ninja now; you'll burn off all of those calories." Sakura's father advised like a wise sage.

"Fine." Sakura conceded as she filled her bowl to the top with cereal and added in some milk before grabbing her spoon and starting to eat. As this happened, Sakura's mother entered the room with some cereal of her own.

"Sakura, sweetheart, do you really want to be a ninja? It's a dangerous life, and while I know that you're well trained, it pains me to see you off to see a dangerous life ahead of you."

"Mom, I've passed the gennin test with Sasuke-Kun. I wouldn't have been able to if I lacked in ability."

"Sayuki, our daughter simply wants a better life than that of a merchant family." Sakura's father tried to convince his wife in a whispered voice, but Sakura would have none of that.

"Dad! It's not that, I want to become a medical ninja. And in order to do that and get into their division in the hospital, I need to become a strong ninja."

"I know, Sakura." Her father conceded at the thought that his daughter would become a great ninja of legend.

"Well, I don't." Sayuki expressed with annoyance. "I don't want to get a ninja at my door telling me that my baby died in the field of service for her village."

"Mom, today's my first mission outside the village. It's a simple c-rank. That means that there won't be enemy ninja. Maybe bandits with no training at all and at best some trained wimps. Besides, I'm old enough to make my own decisions now."

"Sweetheart, you're thirteen. Just barely a teen in so many ways. I want to watch you grow into a beautiful woman and snag a man that's right for you right here in the village or on a merchant's travel with your father."

"And I will, mother. I promise, and I'm thirteen and a half."

"There Sayuki. You heard her promise. My Sakura never gives up after she promises something." Sakura father smiled as he rubbed the top of Sakura's head.

* * *

Sakura's pink hair flowed softly behind her as she walked to her team's meeting spot. Sakura looked up as she saw the red bridge over the river and saw Sasuke leaning on one side of the bridge. It really was a beautiful and relaxing place to meet with her team. Sakura quickly picked up her pace until she arrived next to Sasuke and sat on top the rail.

"Hey Sasuke-Kun." Sakura said in a chirpy voice

"Hm." Sasuke replied mutely

"Why hello mister grumpy."

"Hm"

"Well, no need to get all grumpy."

"I guess not."

The two chuckled at their little joke that they had started when they had first become a team. After a while, Sakura wanted to ask Sasuke a question, but she was a little nervous about how to go about it.

"Hey, Sasuke?"

Sasuke turned his head sideways to look towards Sakura's face. Now that they had come to actually know each other, when she didn't add the honorific to his name, he knew that she was being serious.

"Yeah?"

"Why are we a two-man team? I mean, sure the academy didn't have any extra students to spare, and that they don't advance academy ninja like they used to, but shouldn't we have had another teammate?"

"I'm as stumped as you are. Kakashi-sensei's test was harder because of that, but I'd say that it was due to my eyes."

"The Sharingan does help us Sasuke, but it doesn't see everything. That pride could kill you someday."

"I know, but once mine awakens, we won't need a third member at all."

"…you just want to pass your brother in his skill, don't you?" Sakura questioned knowingly

"Yeah, pretty much." Sasuke sighed lightly.

"Sasuke-Kun, I understand that you want to rebuild your clan and its reputation, but you have your whole life ahead of you in this world."

"Still, the sooner the better."

Sakura knew about Sasuke's mission to be recognized by his village once again and to restore the clan to its mighty glory as well as becoming as strong as his 'late' brother(as in no longer alive). But it was all due to them becoming fast friends in such a short amount of time that she knew so much in such a short amount of time.

Sakura sighed as she leaned back all the way until her fingers barely held onto the rail itself. Being a ninja had its perks, such as having grace and great balance. Unfortunately, it had some negative effects as well.

"Yo."

(Splash)

Sasuke smirked as his teammate had yet again fallen into the river. That happened almost every time that their sensei arrived on time, which according to the rumors of the other Jounin was rarely in and of itself.

"Kakashi-Sensei!" Sakura screamed as she rose out of the water, and jumped the ten feet back onto the rail, her hair in a mop around her as her clothes stuck to her body.

"Sorry, Sakura. But I keep telling you that you need to watch your surroundings better."

"For example," Sasuke started, "you look great right now."

"Really Sasuke-Kun? You…OH! I'll kill you!" Sakura screamed as she went to choke the life out of her laughing teammate after having looked down at herself and seen her wet attire. After a minute of laughing and strangulation, the two parted to look back at Kakashi.

"So, I presume that the two of you are all packed for the trip?"

"Hai Kakashi-Sensei!" The two voices in front of him yelled out in unison. Kakashi looked to their right and saw that their packs were indeed all set. He twisted his head back to the left and nodded his head. A man walked over to the team and bowed his head.

"Team 7, this is Tazuki; he is a messenger from the land of Waves. He has assigned this team to go to the Land of Waves and protect their bridge builders while they complete the bridge. For this mission, there is the slight possibility of ninja but mainly bandits and thugs. I trust that this team can combat against the weakest of criminals. We will now set off, any questions?"

None of them neither asked nor spoke any questions or comments, so soon the group known as squad 7 headed to the gates and headed out to the Land of Waves.

* * *

The team left the safety of the gates of Konoha and immediately jumped into the trees. Tree jumping was the way of the ninja and the fastest transportation with the lowest burning amount of chakra that even a green rookie such as Team 7 could master.

After a while though, the squad of three jumped down onto the road that had been next to them as they left the country of Fire. As they walked to conserve their energy and to restore what chakra they had lost, Sakura started to ask Kakashi some questions.

"Kakashi-Sensei, why are we going to the Land of Waves? Surely, their ninja can protect their own country from bandits." Sakura questioned as she had read about the land of Waves from a book that was dated ten years prior.

"Well Sakura, not all countries have ninja to protect them. There are smaller countries like the village of grass that have a number of ninja to protect them, and then you also have the land of Iron who instead of ninja have samurai. But still there are some countries that have minimal protection."

"Then is that why there are the five Kage nations?"

"That term is considered to be correct for the moment. There was once only one Kage, the strongest shinobi that defended his homeland. Where others arose, they too were considered to be Kages in their own right and in their own lands.

Since the First Great Ninja War, there have always been five Kage powers at work. But many smaller nations help out in those and many other wars to earn respect and to increase their potential to have a Kage."

"So other villages have Kages, but it's just that they are not recognized?" Sasuke asked as he joined in the conversation.

"Correct, a fully given title of Kage is given to those leaders that have under them at least ten thousand ninja, know of at least a thousand jutsu, and can prove that they can protect their own homeland; or else they are presumed to be a Jounin-Oyabun, a smaller version of a Kage."

"But aren't there other ways to get power?" Sasuke questioned

"Yes, there are a few. However, they are the most dangerous of ways. I can now tell you since you both are official ninja that there are demons that stalk the lands of this earth. One such beast is a fox with nine tails."

"How lethal is it? Is it huge?" Sakura questioned.

"The 'Kyuubii' as it is called, is not actually very large. It is maybe the size of the dogs that the Inuzuka clan have and care for. But… Kakashi paused and turned deathly serious, it is very deadly and extremely lethal. A simple swipe of its tails or its claws will kill without regret. However, the tails are only false tails, tails that are not always there. In actuality the foxes that contain more than one tail have chakra within them and can be used for various purposes."

"I thought you said that there was only the Kyuubii?" Sakura asked.

"No, there are demons foxes that range in tails from the simple one tail all the way to nine. But you won't be able to tell them apart from regular foxes unless they are using chakra. Their tails are made of the stuff and they heal incredibly fast."

"There was a master who, like the other original summoning sages, created a summoning contract with the foxes that these demons were known as of the time. They accepted on the condition that they be signed with and used with their wolf breathen who by the time the master came upon them had become fast friends."

"But their chakra was too much for most that signed that very contract, so the rare contract was lost to the ages and the demon foxes, up to the very Kyuubii, ran wild in the lands."

"Has anyone caught one?"

"No, they are fast and as I stated, lethal. If one should cross your path, you are to turn back and run away immediately."

"But I heard that Konoha had caught one in one of my history books in class." Sakura offered. Kakashi shook his head and chuckled at his student, knowing that she retained information like a sponge. He became solemn as he explained the next portion of the story, a rather reverent one at that.

"Yes, but that is not the case now. You see, once there was a boy, an orphan who had recently lost his parents, who came across a baby fox. He saw that the fox was hurt, with an arrow in its stomach. He picked it up and took it into the very walls of Konoha and took care of it. But that very fox, was a Kyuubii, and out of anguish, it nearly Destroyed Konoha. That is why we cast that boy off, to save the village from complete ruin."

As Kakashi finished his explanation, the team continued forward, passing a puddle that seemed out of place to Kakashi at least. After they passed that mysterious puddle, two figures emerged from the puddle and immediately they sprinted forward, a chain of metal between them.

As the group turned around to grasp the situation, the two figures wrapped that very chain around Kakashi, trapping him in the serrated edges that were on each chain link. The two now enemy ninja pulled the chains apart, and Sasuke and Sakura gasped as Kakashi's body was ripped into tiny chunks.

As soon as the pieces of their former teacher hit the ground, the two enemy ninja turned around and headed straight for Sasuke as they perceived the girl as the least amount of threat remaining. Sasuke took a quick glance at Sakura and confirmed what the enemy was thinking.

Sakura stood next to him, her eyes frozen in fear at the first sight of an actual kill. Her body shivered every other second and it seemed as if her hand was trying to move but it failed to do so. Sasuke focused on the enemy ninja and saw a piece of white cloth on the ground covered in blood. Sasuke smirked before charging at the enemy.

* * *

Kakashi appeared four hundred yards to his right from where he had been standing when those enemy ninja had tried and failed to kill him off early.

"So, the demon brothers…I can handle them, and I'm sure that the Gennin can hold them off until I get there." Kakashi whispered to himself before leaping into the trees.

Suddenly all around him exploded into many silver metallic stars, known in the ninja world as shuriken. Kakashi leaped downward to avoid them as they passed overhead and hit the trees in their original trajectories.

"Well thought out Kakashi of the Sharingan," Said one masked ninja in the exact same attire as the two demon brothers as he walked out into the clearing that Kakashi had landed in.

"We have been expecting your squad for a while now. And we knew that you would use your kawarimi to evade our brothers," another ninja said from the opposite side of the clearing.

As Kakashi's right eye visibly widened, the two ninja prepared to charge.

"The demon brothers…known for attacking as a pair, but what others fail to see are us as a four man team," and with that, the ninja charged.

_Sasuke, Sakura…please hold out._

* * *

(Sakura's POV)

Sakura watched in horror as her sensei was ripped into shreds at the very start of the just now starting battle. Now, as Sakura just stood there, Sasuke was fighting what were obviously two chunnin on his own.

Sasuke had whipped out a kunai and caught their chain and hooked it high into a tree behind them. The dual ninja tag team had to simply separate the chain from their gauntlets and continued forward. Sasuke moved his hands to grab more kunai, but he wasn't fast enough as the enemy ninja to the right of him appeared in front of him and hit his chest with the blunt ring of the kunai is his hand.

Sakura watched all this happen in front of her and still, she couldn't do anything. She watched as Sasuke was thrown back into a tree somewhere off the road behind him with the ninja following after him. Sakura slowly looked forward and saw the lecherous look that the remaining ninja presented in his eyes.

"I guess I have you all to myself." The ninja said in a raspy and happy voice with his air filtration mask still covering his face.

Sakura retreated into her mind as she tried to do something, anything to save herself from this ninja standing in front of her.

_Come on. Move. Dammit, body. Move. I need to save myself._

_I need to save Sasuke. I need to avenge Kakashi-Sensei._

_I promised Mom and Dad that I would get home safely._

_I…I need to Live…right?_

**_Why do I need to live? There's nothing going right in my life?_**

**_I have no one to protect…I have no one to inspire me…I have no one to protect…Me_**

Sakura's hand stopped shaking and with dead eyes, she looked towards her enemy, awaiting her approaching death.

The enemy ninja smirked as he saw the fight drain out of the girl and saw with annoyance that she had resolved herself to her death by his hand. The ninja threw the kunai in his hand, its trajectory aimed for her cranium.

**So I hope you liked the first installment; Go ahead and tell me what you think and guess how long you think this story will be. I hope some of you are close, but then again, there are a lot of possible numbers out there in the world**


	2. Intercepted

**Hello and welcome back to the second installment of Sorakage! I thought that I would be posting next week, but suddenly I got six reviews, twice of what I normally get so this is what those reviewers get...another chap less than twenty four hours later. While I can't promise this every time, they do indeed motivate me greatly, especially these first ones. Some notes of acknoledgement are in order.**

**DiizGiirlJess- Congratulations on being the first to review, you ask for a fast update...here you go!**

**The Keeper of Worlds and NXS- thanks for the compliments!**

**Nanai- you spoillerrrrrr! **

**To MK Loves NaruSaku- yes, this is it, and you will love it!**

**Finally to Logan Locke and all others who are thinking it, yes, take the time to read more of my chapters and then give me a critique, more positive than negative please...such as no curse words and no flamers please.**

**You have all read the first chapter if you are reading this, so...did you guess where I am at on word count? No one reviewed, but I assume you thought it. Answer at the bottom of the chapter.**

**So, without further ado,**

**Sorakage Arc 1**

**Chapter 2: Intercepted**

* * *

_Move Damnit! "_MOVE!" Sakura cried out.

Suddenly, a shadow crossed above and then in front of Sakura and the clang that signified the deflection of the kunai that had been thrown at her was heard. Sakura adjusted her eyes as she saw a figure before her. _Was it death? No. __It was something that would change her life forever._

The figure was maybe Sasuke's height…or maybe a little taller actually. The figure was male, made obvious by the slightly broad shoulders that accentuated his back. The man wore all black camouflaged pants with Shinobi boots that went halfway up to his knees. The man wore a black lightweight turtleneck with a red stripe on the sides of the sleeves. The jacket that covered him was of similar design, but Sakura could see the flexible shapings of armored metal that would undoubtedly protect him from most fatal attacks.

The man turned his head slightly and Sakura saw a single majestic cerulean eye looking directly at her. Sakura saw the blonde locks that were brighter than that of her best friend Ino and wondered for the briefest of seconds how it defied gravity like her sensei. Sakura tried to locate his mouth, but realized that like her sensei, this man wore a face mask that hid the lower half of his face.

The man was also armed with what appeared to be a black sword held in a sheath strapped to his back. Was it obsidian, perhaps? Sakura looked closer and saw that the man wore near invisible gauntlets that were well hidden on his sleeves that were black in nature. To finish off the attire, the man wore armored gloves that, as they were black, Sakura could only assume one thing; the man before her was a ninja just like her.

"Are you alright?" The black clad armored ninja in front of her asked

It took Sakura a second but she quickly nodded her head. She thought she saw a smile form on the mask like Kakashi-sensei would when they did something right, but it disappeared from sight as the man turned around to once again face her attacker.

"I've been looking for you for two days, and I find you attacking a defenseless woman."

Sakura's heart beat a little faster until she realized that the boy was talking to her attacker. Her mind drifted to anger for a second, because she was a ninja, not a simple civilian, before her thoughts brought her back to the present. All the same, her heart quickened its pace as she remembered her thoughts earlier; this man seemed to actually care to defend her. She had someone to defend her; at least, for the moment.

"She's a ninja, boy. She'll just die sooner rather than later. Simply step aside and we'll ravage her body together."

Sakura gasped in disgust at the mention of her body getting ravaged by this disgusting appearance of a man.

"No you won't. Not unless you can kill me first."

"As you wish." The ninja replied before the enemy bolted forward with another kunai in hand. Sakura could only watch as the ninja swiped at the black clothed man at the neck. The man brought his hand up to his sword's hilt and waited for the enemy to attack. The enemy's kunai touched the man's throat and Sakura and the enemy's eyes widened as the man burst into white smoke.

Sakura heard a scream and tried to look through the smoke desperately. As the smoke cleared, her savior appeared to be unharmed and she watched as he flicked his wrist and blood came off his sword. Blood?

Sakura looked down only to see the enemy with his eyes wide open as red liquid poured out around him. Sakura saw the organs burst from the entry point that must have been the man's sword stabbing into the other man's stomach. Sakura watched as blood splattered onto her right cheek in slow motion.

As Sakura saw all this, she got queasy and nauseous. She moved forward to thank the man but quickly turned around and threw up in the bushes behind her. As Sakura's gag reflex settled and her fits started to end, she felt a hand touch her back and slowly rotated it counter clockwise around her in worry. She visibly relaxed when she knew that it was the gloved hand of her rescuer.

Sakura sighed before another slight vision of the body found its way into her sight and caused her to start feeling nauseous again. As Sakura turned back to the bushes, the man pushed her long pink locks back and held it there while he continued the rotating motion as Sakura spilled her contents of breakfast.

Finally, after several minutes of staring at the body, Sakura became used to the sight of blood and decay of the body and straightened up before looking toward her savior.

"T-thank you." Sakura mumbled before she bowed deeply to her waist before the man.

"Um…" the ninja started before moving his sword hand back to his neck and scratching it nervously. Sakura saw through the top of her eye lids as the ninja touched her chin and raised her back up to look directly at her.

"There's no need for that. I was hired to kill him, among others." The mystery ninja stated calmly.

"Oh…" _This boy was a cut-throat killer?_ Sakura thought. _No, he was a young teen, just like her. Sakura had killed animals before; they had to be aware of life and death, but people? That was a whole step up from Sakura's perspective. And so young? _

"Still, it-it means a lot to me. I am forever in your debt." Sakura stated was a slight smile.

"No need; that smile on your face is payment enough." The ninja replied.

Sakura suddenly giggled like a schoolgirl, though she did not know why, and smiled a bit brighter.

"I still can give you something." Sakura answered.

"How about thy name of the fair maiden?"

Sakura giggled again before replying. "Sakura…And you? What is the name of my savior?"

"Naruto."

"Pleased to meet you Naruto"

"The pleasure is all mine, Sakura."

A rustling in the bushes to their right caused their ninja senses to twist their heads towards the sound. Sasuke appeared out of the bushes bruised, but alive as he dragged the dead body of the ninja that had followed him earlier.

Sakura saw the burn marks on the enemy ninja's body and knew that one of Sasuke's plans had worked to fruition.

Sasuke looked up towards Sakura and saw the man slightly in front of her and quickly pulled out his last kunai before charging at the man. The ninja simply moved further forward with no weapon in his hands.

"Sasuke! No!" Sakura screamed out but her voice was in vain.

Sasuke jumped off the ground and sliced at the man repeatedly. The enemy ninja seemed to move at the exact timing of his strikes and dodged just enough so that the strikes were missing him. Finally, Sasuke leaped at the man in an attempt to bring him down.

Instead, the man dodged Sasuke's entire body and Sasuke felt a weight on his back before his face and body hit the ground. His kunai skirted out of his hand and out of his reach. Sasuke felt his hands being pulled back before he felt a strong hand grab hold of his arms together. Finally, Sasuke felt cold metal touch the back of his neck.

"This man is on your squad. Right, Sakura? The ninja in black seemed to ask Sakura. _How does he know her name? _Sasuke thought

"Yes, Naruto." Sakura nodded before looking back towards Sasuke. "Sasuke, that man just saved my life. Don't hurt him, okay?"

_She knows his name too? _"Yeah, promise." Sasuke groaned as the pain in his arm subsided a little. "Now get off."

The ninja now known as Naruto let go of Sasuke and allowed him to rise back up to his feet. Sasuke dipped down and grabbed his last kunai before placing it back inside his pouch. He turned around and saw Sakura edging closer to Naruto with a lovesick smile on her face and in her eyes. _Don't tell me she has a crush on this guy already?!_

Sasuke saw Naruto's sword and, just like Sakura, wondered why it was completely black metal. He watched as Naruto sheathed it to behind his back before he walked over to them. Naruto struck out his hand and Sasuke extended his as they shook together.

"See you saved my teammate."

"See you killed that pathetic excuse for a Chunnin."

"He was pathetic." Sasuke smirked happily. "Took one hit and he was out."

Naruto's mask showed a small smirk that was a smaller version on Sasuke's matching face.

As the three ninja started to converge together, the bushes rustled to their right again, and the trio saw the final member of Squad 7 walking back onto the road, completely unharmed and carrying the bodies of the last two ninja.

Kakashi looked over and saw the two dead bodies lying in a pile already. Kakashi smiled at the thought that his students had taken down Chunnin level ninja on their first mission outside of the village mission. Kakashi's eye then saw the ninja in black with an all too well-known blonde hair and frowned deeply.

"Hello...Naruto." Kakashi deadpanned

"Hello, Kakashi. How've you been?" Naruto remarked passively.

Sakura and Sasuke looked between their sensei and their new fellow ninja and immediately felt the tension in the air around them.

"Naruto, how do you know Kakashi-Sensei?" Sakura asked, wondering what their potential past was.

"He was once my guardian. My protector…" Naruto said solemnly as he recalled his past, before turning to face Kakashi, "that is, when I was still 'Allowed' in Konoha."

Sasuke and Sakura's eyes widened at the sudden statement.

"You're from Konoha?" Sasuke asked.

"Not anymore." Naruto raised his gauntlet.

Sasuke and Sakura looked intently and saw the symbol etched into the gauntlet and looked deeper. The symbol was a trio of spirals all circling next to each other, with a triangle in the center with its points bended into the curves of the spirals.

"What village is that?" Sasuke wondered aloud.

"It's not a village. It's a fort with land that I and a few others own. We agreed on the symbol and we get hired to do jobs here and there."

"So it's a hidden village?" Sakura asked politely.

"Basically. More hidden than what you all call your villages." Naruto replied solemnly.

"Why are you here, Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

As I said earlier and to add on, my team and I have been sent here to kill the threats in and around the Land of Waves."

"Did the country pay for it?"

"No, one of our new and fellow ninja used to live here and asked us to return the Land to what it once was. They're all murderers and rapists in these parts anyways. I assume that your squad is the one being assigned to guard the bridge?"

"Yes." Sakura quickly replied, earning two annoyed glares from her teammates at the willingness to give information to a foreign ninja and saw the love-struck smile on the girl's face.

"Why do you ask?" Kakashi questioned.

"Stay on the bridge. If my team or I see you anywhere else, we'll be forced to assume that you're the enemy."

A crackle of static alerted the group to Naruto's left ear where they saw a red earpiece in it. Crackles followed.

"Copy that."

Naruto turned to Sakura. "I am sorry that our time was cut short. I wish I could talk with you some more, but duty calls. I hope that we can meet again, but not too soon and…" Naruto leaned in near Sakura's ear before whispering, "In a more romantic setting."

"I-I'd like that." Sakura stuttered as she smiled towards Naruto as her eyes glazed over as images flashed in her mind before her other self brought her back down to the here and now.

"Ja Ne!" Naruto said before a white cloud replaced him and when the two gennin saw that he had truly disappeared, they turned back to their sensei.

"Come on. Let's get to that bridge to defend it."

The two heads nodded before the trio jumped back into the trees and off to the last stretch of land before the Land of Waves.

* * *

The trio exited the trees about an hour later and came upon the bridge twenty feet from completion. As the threat to the bridge had stated that they would destroy it just before completion, the builders had ceased their work for the last week until the squad from Konoha arrived.

As their presence became known, a boat appeared and the three got in, waiting to get on the bridge and ready to defend it with their very lives.

"Sakura you will protect our flank. Sasuke, you'll be at the center. I'll take point. Copy that?"

"Roger, Kakashi-Sensei!" The duo stated before exiting the boat and walked off to their positions.

The day passed, and as Sakura stared off toward the Land of Waves itself, she thought about Naruto. He had saved her from imminent death while she had simply stood there and done nothing. Sakura shook herself from that thought and promised herself that the next time; she would attack and force her body to move.

As if to mock her, that was when the battle for the bridge began.

* * *

**Well there you have it. Yes, I made Naruto hide his face like Kakashi, because I believe that is what ninja would do!**

**And I made the demon brothers a full four-man squad. Other writers always have Naruto destroy the competition, or write it EXACTLY like in the canon, which I really hate. No creative mind at all. So Naruto defeated one, sasuke one, and Kakashi two. After all, I think that's a better reason why Kakashi would be late in getting to his team than a simple substitution jutsu farther away. **

**And now for the word count: With the rough draft of the story, and still not completed or finished, the story so far is at a word count of...100,000+ words! So get ready to read a lot and witness what i hope to be a great story!**

**Tell me what you think about my AN, and the story. R X R Please!**

**Timberwolfe Howl!**


	3. The Bridge

**AN: Hello and welcome back! Id you are this far into the story, then I assume that you are most likely here to stay, so I thank you for the support in the long hall. I checked the reviews today and some have just reviewed and read my story, which makes me so happy as a writer. Now for the reviews: starting off with helpful reviews from ahmadaziz and DiizGiirlJess , I am sorry for not clarifying their age, but think of them as six months out of the academy so thirteen or fourteen. Also, the life of a ninja is short so there may be more adult themes in a relationship as I believe that the chakra helps them to mature quicker. (not entirely true, but my story please). As for your comment on the outfit, it took two weeks to draw it out and then put it into words. Imagination helps a lot.**

**As for the latest reviews from ZeroTails317, yes multiple Kyuubis. They are a summons in my fanfic, so they have the stronger ones as Kyuubis. As for the helpless Sakura, I do plan to make her stronger. As I've seen Naruto, all the girls have started weak and then find inspiration to become super strong. Guys...show-offs, and masculine superiority complexes. Seriously, a kunai does the job same as a jutsu, just less flashy. Naruto is what you could call a knight in shining armor for Sakura, which turns her whole life around. She is weak now, but maybe Naruto becomes her inspiration? How does that sound? I like it, might twist it like that in the future story if I change it up a bit. Finally, Kakashi and naruto's time will come, just not yet.**

**Also, Thanks to all who reviewed but did have questions: THE 7TH DEMON OF RAZGRIZ MK loves NaruSaku The Keeper of Worlds, and TableTop **

**Sorry for the long Note, but I feel like reviewers take the time to write, so I respond back. And by reading the AN, you get hopefully helpful information on the story. So without further ado;**

**Sorakage Arc 1**

**Chapter 3: The Bridge**

* * *

Thick mist appeared on the horizon from where Kakashi was standing. Around Wave this could be considered normal, but as the mist came towards them, he saw through years of experience that there was chakra moving the mist around and towards them and the bridge itself. He backed up as the builders fled and watched as two figures appeared from the mist itself.

"Kakashi of the Sharingan. Hmm, it's my lucky day." A voice sounded and chuckled dryly from a tall man wielding a large blade that was well feared in the shinobi world.

"Zabuza of the hidden Mist. I should have known that the Demon Brothers were working for someone that was higher ranked." Kakashi replied as he got into a battle ready stance.

"Of course they would have someone in charge. They weren't very smart to begin with. You came here to defend a bridge that is already set to fall. That in the end will kill you and your team of what appears to be simply fresh green rookies. Haku…"

"Yes, Zabuza-Sama?"

"Take care of those gennin in the back. I'll deal with Kakashi."

"Of course," Haku proclaimed before speeding past Kakashi and heading in a path towards Sasuke and Sakura with murderous intent and an evil glint in his eyes.

* * *

A couple minutes into a battle that could mean life or death for the gennin, Sasuke and Sakura backed up and away from Haku, after discovering that the boy used nearly invisible senbon to attack with. Sakura looked over to Sasuke, who looked expectantly at her. Early on in teamwork practice and training, it was Sakura who came up with the best plans and Sakura nodded to Sasuke twice, signaling a plan number to him.

Sasuke moved to attack Haku with a kunai in hand as Sakura moved herself while laying out some wires and explosive tags for the next plan to commence. As Sasuke neared the enemy ninja, the boy Haku sent water aiming right for Sasuke.

Sasuke smirked before a kunai wrapped in an exploding tag detonated before him, cancelling out the water attack and allowing Sasuke to land a punch to Haku's face. As he fell back however, Haku called out an unfamiliar jutsu name that shocked both Gennin.

"Ice Jutsu: Mirrors"

As he finished the chant, a mirror of ice appeared behind Haku and he quickly slipped inside and disappeared from view. A second later, the water around Sasuke rose and turned into more mirror like surfaces, until Sasuke was surrounded by them around and above him with no clear way to escape.

Sakura almost decided to go inside but remembering her strategy guide from home, decided that it was best to support Sasuke from the outside. Sakura watched though as soon hundreds of senbon made of ice filled the air inside the cage of mirrors and flew through and came out of the mirrors with Sasuke as their intended target. Neither Sasuke nor Sakura knew a way to get out of this so they settled for planning on the run.

After several long and intensive minutes however, Sakura and Sasuke were both extremely tired and depleted of most of their precious chakra. Sasuke had shot out more fireballs than he had ever completed previously, but as soon as the mirrors broke or cracked, they repaired themselves.

Sakura for her part had thrown all but one of her kunai and saved Sasuke from one too many fatal hits due to his dodging abilities. Haku didn't seem to want to kill them per say; he wanted to play with them, like a bored puppy with a squeaking chew toy.

Finally after a rather hard wave, Sasuke's eyes had awakened and he had started to dodge more and more of the tiny senbon needles. But unfortunately, it was not to be for long. After a few minutes more, Sasuke fell to the ground; his eyes closed and his body lay as still as the grave.

Sakura watched as the mirrors melted and disappeared back into the ground and Haku stepped out of the last remaining one to face her. Sakura gulped as she knew from training that her mid-range and close combat weren't her forte. She wanted to be a medical ninja and was a genjutsu specialist in the making, but she needed distractions to make it all work out. Against this Haku character, she would be torn to pieces and without Sasuke, there wasn't much chance of survival; less than three percent if her calculations were correct. (Yes, Sakura is that Smart)

Haku smiled a rather lustful smile before he sent forth a wave of senbon needles from his hands. Sakura smirked back as she saw the amount of senbon and knew that it was an amount that she could handle. She brought her kunai up around her and deflected every last one in quick succession. However, suddenly she was pulled off her feet and backwards until she hit the stone column of the bridge that had been directly behind her.

Sakura tried to understand what had been the cause of it and felt her shirt and vest tighten upwards until it slowly started to suffocate her throat and her lungs. Sakura grasped at her neck and felt two ice needles on the fringes of her clothes and directly next to her neck. Sakura tried to pull them out but they wouldn't budge.

Slowly, Sakura started coughing and having trouble breathing and black dots started to fill her vision as the oxygen remaining inside her lessened. She was suffocating and this bastard was going to watch her die.

"Oh, I wouldn't want you to die so quickly." Haku chuckled darkly as he read her thoughts.

Haku sent a large ice needle just barely underneath her feet. Sakura quickly reached down with her feet and her toes were able to just barely touch the cold ice, but she was at least able to breathe a little. The black dots lessened a bit, but Sakura still had trouble breathing. Sakura looked back up and watched Haku smile before four more needles, this time metal, were thrown forward at various points of her body.

The first two entered each of Sakura's thighs, and Sakura screamed out as they passed out the other sides into the stone face, but still inside her, locking her legs in place. Sakura continued to cry out as her arms were pierced and thrown wide as the curve of the thrown senbon continued sideways. Her wrists were pierced and sent far away from her body till Sakura looked like that of a crucified damsel in distress.

Haku approached Sakura with a serene and happy smile on his face before he licked his lips lustfully. Sakura knew that look and her senses went haywire. It was the look that all Kunoichi were taught to watch out for with sexual situations in battles.

Haku took out one of his iced needles and slowly moved forward until he was face to face with Sakura.

"Now, what did that boy call you? Ah, Sa-ku-ra, let's see what you have under the hood, huh?"

"N-no. Please! Don't!"

The pleading was ignored as Haku brought his needle up to the collar of Sakura's vest. Slowly, he cut along the zipper and the fabric rolled itself out to reveal Sakura's chest. Haku's smile faded as all he saw were wrappings that Kunoichi sometimes used to prevent their breasts from interfering in a battle.

"Now Sakura, we can't have those." Haku taunted at Sakura.

Haku brought the needle to Sakura's left hip before slashing diagonally until all but Sakura's upper left sleeve covered her left breast and her right was still covered by the bandages. Haku slowly cut into each piece of the bandage until only three strands defied his viewing.

Sakura cried to herself for the second time that day.

_Why am I so weak? I want to be strong. I tried to fight! I wasn't scared for a bit. But now does it all come to an end like this? Please not like this! God, if there even is a god, send me a sign to become stronger than this. Send me help_.

As Haku brought the needle towards the last straps, Sakura closed her eyes and pleaded for help.

"Help" Sakura cried out in a desperate and defeated voice.

Suddenly, Haku cried out in pain. Sakura felt her wrappings still there and opened her to see before her…Naruto? She saw over Naruto's shoulder Haku with Naruto's sword in his insides and stomach to its hilt. Haku coughed before whispering 'dammit' and falling down to the ground.

* * *

(Around the same time as Sasuke lost consciousness)

Kakashi fell to the ground as his kunai was broken in half as Zabuza crashed the blunt of his sword into him, throwing him harshly into the ground, which broke from the raw power of the blade. Zabuza grinned at Kakashi as he held his huge sword at Kakashi's throat.

"Well Kakashi. That Sharingan of yours is as good as gone. You should have remembered that I am known for my silent killing because of my ears, not my eyes like you are. As long as you can't see me, I have you beat. But alas, that is all over. Take this last second to think back on your life and that of your students. They are as good as dead as well."

Zabuza raised up his sword, preparing to finish Kakashi off and send his head rolling. Zabuza swung with all his might in a downward fashion. Kakashi braced himself for the impact.

Suddenly, a clang sounded and a sound of metal on metal invaded the bridge as another sword crossed in front of Zabuza's blade. The sword itself was black in color but the hilt was silver, pure silver mended onto the blade and going down the center. Zabuza pushed but the blade held its own. Zabuza looked over to see a young teenager standing with his back to him as his black and silver coat flapped behind him.

"Who are you?" Zabuza questioned harshly.

"Who I am is not important." The stranger replied in a monotone voice. "What is important is how you will die instead of the shinobi laid out before you."

Zabuza chuckled darkly. "Just because you blocked one of my strikes means nothing."

"Well, then let us try again." And as the sentence finished, the two swordsmen clashed against each other in a duel lasting a few minutes. After that time however, Zabuza started breathing heavily as the boy before him breathed slowly and calmly.

The man charged forward, and as Zabuza stuck his blade forward, the teen flipped to Zabuza's right before stabbing him deeply into his ribcage and piercing his heart. As Zabuza stumbled back, a growl mixed with a howl emanated from the fighters' left and all eyes turned to see an arctic fox, at waist height, with one tail of fur, and eight tails of pure and raw chakra.

"It can't be…" Kakashi whispered.

"The Kyuubii." Zabuza finished as his life started to leave his eyes.

"Kyuubii, finish him off." The teen in the dual coat commanded.

The fox charged forward and with a simple slash of his claws, Kakashi saw Zabuza's eyes dim and close as the life went out of him. The teenager and the fox disappeared for a minute and as Kakashi slowly worked his way back up to his feet, they reappeared with Sasuke on the teen's back.

"My name is Kirito," the teen replied before Kakashi could ask any questions. "The Kyuubii and I will escort you and Sasuke Uchiha back to Konoha."

"But what of Sakura?" Kakashi questioned quickly. If she had died, he couldn't live with himself.

"Naruto is with her. When they are ready, they will leave for Konoha as well."

"Alright. Lead the way, then." Kakashi whispered before fainting from chakra exhaustion. Kirito put Sasuke down for a minute and put Kakashi on Kyuubii's back, strapping him on with some chakra bindings before he picked the Uchiha back up and headed off to the one place that his teammate had sworn to never see again.

* * *

Naruto turned around and looked at Sakura's trapped form and resisted the urge of doing the same thing that Haku had been about to do. But his resistance prevailed; he would not be a man such as that. He pulled the needles out from Sakura's legs, earning a painful scream and a single tear from Sakura.

"I'm sorry."

"It-it's okay. It has to be done." Sakura mumbled as she grew dizzy from the pain.

Naruto ripped out the needles pinning Sakura's arms, and Sakura immediately crashed down into Naruto's awaiting arms. Sakura sniffled before snuggling closely into Naruto, trying to get the heat that radiated from his body to heat up the parts of her body that were frozen by Haku. She breathed rapidly as the adrenaline in her system tried to shut itself off after the attempted rape and event it had just experienced.

After a bit though, Sakura retreated before smiling brightly at Naruto. Naruto smiled back until he saw the damage that Haku had done to Sakura's vest and bindings. Naruto wondered for a second why Sakura wore bindings before dismissing it and his stupid hormones and started digging into his pack.

"Naruto, what are you doing?"

"Giving you this," Naruto stated as he pulled out another vest for Sakura. The vest was much like Sakura's old red one except it was mostly black in color. Blood red covered the shoulders and a line of it crossed down diagonally from shoulder to hip. There were sleeves that were red and ran down as well, but Sakura also saw that they could be taken off if it was preferred.

"Naruto, isn't that yours?"

"Yeah, but you can have it to cover up a bit. You wouldn't want to enter Konoha like that, would you?"

Sakura looked down at her attire and quickly snatched the vest/jacket out of Naruto's outstretched hand eliciting a chuckle from Naruto at the sheer speed of Sakura's movements. Soon, Sakura was once again covered, and though she managed to keep it to herself, Sakura wished that Naruto's eyes had sort of stayed on her body, even if it made her blush like crazy.

"We should head back to Konoha." Naruto suggested before turning around and started to walk.

Sakura knew that the question was stupid but she wanted to know really badly. "N-Naruto, you'll stay in Konoha again, won't you?" She asked

"I can't." Naruto said as his feet stopped in their place.

"Why not?" Sakura asked with a slight frown.

"Well, it-," Naruto suddenly felt an intense pain in his side and slowly crumpled to the ground from the shock. Sakura quickly caught Naruto and slowly laid him backwards on the ground. After listening to Naruto about where the pain was located, Sakura looked down and saw Haku's remaining ice needle lodged completely inside Naruto's abdomen.

"Oh Kami! Naruto, you can't move until I get that out of you." Sakura stated

"No, let's try to get back to Konoha for now. We can camp and worry about it when it gets dark." Naruto insisted, earning a stubborn look from Sakura

Sakura sent him a worried glance before nodding and slowly got him up and off the ground. She wrapped one of Naruto's arms around her neck and soon, the two jumped into the trees and began their way back to Konoha.

* * *

As soon as the sun dipped past the horizon, Sakura tugged on Naruto's shirt and they descended into a clearing not too soon after. Naruto started to limp around, gathering wood to build a fire while Sakura set up a single tent for them to sleep inside.

After Sakura had completed her task, she rolled her sleeping bag out and sat down upon it. Naruto soon joined her, but Sakura quickly led and then soothed him into leaning back on the bag so that she could examine the wound.

"Naruto, you'll need to take off your shirt." Sakura suggested as a blush crept up her face.

"Alright. Is this just an excuse so that you can see me topless?" Naruto wondered aloud.

"Maybe." Sakura playfully smirked at Naruto.

Naruto stripped off his shirt, but as he brought it over his head, Sakura took the chance she'd been waiting for and undid his lower mask and took it off.

"There, now I can see-"

Sakura's eyes opened wider. Without his facemask hiding his face, Sakura felt like butterflies were flying inside her stomach in a tornado. The teenage boy before her was indeed beautiful and handsome in a very rugged like manner, and boy!, did she like rugged.

Sakura took the time to examine Naruto's chest as she placed her hands to his wound and started up a melting hand jutsu that would dissolve the needle over time and safely close the wound. She took in the sight and knew that Naruto had the forming body which would be lean but have the hidden muscles needed that would save him in countless encounters. The only reason he was still breathing was due to the fact that he had been hit in between some of those very muscles.

As Sakura closed the wound, Naruto seemed to move his upper body up and she watched as Naruto lightly pushed one of Sakura's strands of hair out of the way of her face. Sakura lit up like a red street light as she hated when those got in the way and yet Naruto was helping her to be rid of it.

"You have the most beautiful hair in the world." Naruto said suddenly.

Sakura blushed deeper before replying, "You're delusional."

"I probably am, but if I'm truly delusional, then you won't mind this." Naruto started as he leaned close to Sakura's face until he gently graced her lips with his own. The kiss itself was short, but Sakura's eyes in that small amount of time lit up like a Christmas tree. "If I'm delusional, then you must be an angel from god."

Sakura felt a lump fall upon her shoulder and thought that Naruto was going to kiss her neck, but it was not to be. After a couple seconds, Sakura looked down and saw that Naruto had passed out from exhaustion. Sakura groaned lightly at the end of her first truly romantic setting and her first kiss as well! Sakura gently soothed him back down upon her sleeping bag before simply staring at him.

_He saved my life. He deserves at least something from me! Not just a simple and lame excuse from thank you. No, I'll… I can't believe that I'm about to do this…_

Sakura brought her hand up to the zipper of Naruto's vest that he had given to her. Ever so slowly, Sakura tugged at the zipper and the zipper slid down to the end of itself and pulled itself free. Sakura reached behind her and undid what was left of her chest bindings.

Sakura let them drop and as they did, a pair of maybe B-cup breasts popped out of the jacket. Sakura lay down next to Naruto and slowly grabbed his right arm before pressing it between her breasts. Sakura snuggled closer into Naruto as a cold breeze filled the inside of the tent.

Sakura smiled to herself as the thought that Naruto deserved all the least of these before she too succumbed to the mental and physical exhaustion of the day.

* * *

**There we go! I know, I know. Too fast right? Damsel in distress syndrome can do that to people, my friend ended up the same way though, not with needles or anything like this, but the situation of a simple delusional statement about the girl he likes. They're together now, so it worked out.**

**On another note, you can't call Sakura weak. She held out as long as she could, but long-range beat close-combat, which beats midrange, which beats long range attacks. Just like rock, paper, scissors. And you try pulling giant needles out and don't cry or yelp in pain. She is mentally strong at the moment, just a fragile teenage girl is all.**

**R X R and I await your responses! **


	4. Naruto's Story

**Salut! Parley vous francais? Oh well...english it is, then. So...chapter four is here, and I apologize for it will be shorter than the previous chapters simply due to the fact that the next chapters are clearly defined where they start and stop. I know it's not an excuse at all, but that all I can say on the matter. But you're not reading because of that, are you? You are reading to find out what happens next.**

**I hope you all liked the story so far and I am simply amazed at the reviews so, as before; it shall be again:**

**Logan Locke- you stated that you would wait to critique me, and you did. All I have to say is...WOW! Too much! I either have spent too much time writing these Fanfics or simply too much time on this one only. The spelling errors? Just used good old M Word for it. Terrible however every time I paste it into this site to upload...they point out all names in red! Even the word Fanfics! I'm glad to be seen as original in this story, as you always see just two brothers in that scene. I loved your critique and i'm glad you enjoy my pace, though beware that it will change for the chapter's and story's sake.**

**MK loves NaruSaku- what you wrote? pretty much what I'd thought you write, and what you assumed, here it is.(If reading this and not MK, you can always check chapter 3 reviews :) )**

** XSTEELCOBRAX - I will try my best to show you a good time as you read further.**

**Nanai- Same as always I see. Loved the review, and thank you for the word of wisdom.**

**DiizGiirlJess-No problem with the age giving and I'm glad to be original as I said with Locke and throw in a twist here and a turn there. You asked for an update...Here it is!**

**ZeroTails317- Sorry about the pace; I feel there's a lot to get off my mind and into these chapters and I may skip parts after writing for a while. Glad you be right here with me though, it truly means a lot as a writer reading what you write. P.S. a long haul till the end. One hundred thousand words and I'm only halfway through my story.**

**Well! If you would like your username on my list of comments, concerns, ideas, and creativity, just post, but try to be something other than anonymous. Make it fun with a pen name. I use mine all the time. Now, with the chapter! HOWL!**

**Sorakage Arc 1**

**Chapter 4: Naruto's Story**

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes to the sight of a sleeping Sakura to the right of him and smiled as her shallow breathing hit the middle of his neck. He took this time to study her face and saw a small smile with a small opening where her shallow breathing hit his face as she moved to a comfier position beside him. As she breathed again, Naruto moved to get up when he felt pressure on his right arm. He looked down and saw Sakura's arms wrapped around his bicep as the rest was submerged in Sakura's beautiful breasts…...

**_WHAT?!_**

Naruto readjusted his eyes over and over again but still the breasts were there wrapped around his arm and it took all Naruto had not to grab them and twist them, play with them, and such. Being a horny teenager, it was so very tempting. Naruto quickly pulled his arm out, but sadly Sakura chose that moment to wake up.

Naruto watched in a one-time fear as Sakura's emerald eyes looked to him and smiled tiredly but lovingly.

"Morning, Naruto."

"M-morning Sakura."

Sakura leaned up and stretched her hands upward accentuating her breasts tighter and Naruto caught himself looking before blushing and looked away. Sakura saw his expression and became worried.

"Naruto, are you okay?" She asked in complete concern

"Sakura, the vest…it-it zipped itself down…and well…" Naruto sputtered frantically to try to help her see that he wasn't the perpetrator.

Sakura looked amused before looking down at the vest and then back up at Naruto.

"Naruto, it wasn't the vest; I did this of my own accord." As Naruto widened his eyes, Sakura continued. "You've saved me twice now, you took a possibly fatal shot for me. I couldn't ask for more. That ninja was going to rape me; I know it. But you saved me before it could actually begin. I just feel like you're someone who deserves something along these lines in return,"

Sakura lowered her head in doubt. "So if showing my worthless breasts to you-"

"-They're not worthless." Naruto interjected.

Sakura looked back up to watch as Naruto came forward and hugged her in front, to which Sakura wrapped her arms around his slightly taller frame.

"They're beautiful," Naruto said as he grabbed the zipper and pulled it all the way back up to the top and gazed deeply into Sakura's eyes, "but they're meant to be seen by only who you choose."

"I chose you, didn't I?" Sakura leaned forward and whispered into Naruto's ear earning a shiver down his spine before they started packing up their gear and disassembled their camp. When they were all done, they set off into the trees for Konoha.

Unbeknownst to them, the entire time they were breaking camp, they were barely at arm's length. As they put away the gear, they were an inch apart. As they set off into the trees, they were both shoulder to shoulder, getting closer and closer as time went on.

* * *

(Hours later)(Afternoon)

As they left the safety of the trees, they stood in front of the northern gates of Konoha. Sakura looked down at their hands which were still connected and smiled before leading Naruto inside. Naruto paused for a second, breathing in and out slowly, before following Sakura inside the place that he had remembered only in his nightmares.

They passed the large wooden gates and Sakura smiled at the sight that was her home. Sakura beamed as she smelled the trees around and inside Konoha and the air moisture ridden with flavors unable to comprehend.

Suddenly, nine shadows fell around the couple. Eight swords were unsheathed and thrusted forward, leaving room only for Naruto and Sakura's bodies. One man wearing all black and an Anbu mask spoke.

"You are Naruto, I presume?"

"You have presumed correctly." Naruto replied calmly and in no sign of fear, indicating that he saw this happening.

Sakura looked around them and wondered why there were two teams and an Anbu captain surrounding them with their katanas drawn. Anbu were ninja of the highest caliber, but they were to protect the village, not attack people like Naruto.

"W-what's this all about?" Sakura managed to speak.

"The Hokage and the council of Konoha have called a meeting for you tomorrow morning. Until then, we are to escort you to the Anbu prison where you will await for the council to call you."

"Of course. Lead the-" Naruto began.

"Wait a minute!" Sakura shrieked at the ninja present. "Naruto isn't a criminal; he saved my life!"

"Sakura Haruno," the Anbu captain began with a monotone voice of an adult to an unknowing child, "you do not have the information nor the clearance for that matter that would otherwise have you know the dire situation you find yourself currently in. You are to go home and await the council's instructions."

"No!" Sakura protested as she held onto Naruto's hand tighter.

"Saku-" Naruto began in a stressed tone.

"No." Sakura denied him.

"If you do not comply, you will be taken to the prison as well."

"Fine. Take me as well."

The Anbu captain sighed dejectedly before waving over one of his subordinates. "Go and tell the Haruno household that Sakura Haruno is helping out at the Anbu prison to keep a potential enemy in line."

"Roger." The Anbu leaped off in the direction of Sakura's house before the Anbu captain turned his head back to Sakura.

"You will be in the same cell as Naruto. Does **that** agree with you?" The captain asked, visibly annoyed by his body gesture.

"Yes." Sakura nodded.

The Anbu around them sheathed their katanas before forming into a box around them and together they walked into the center of Konoha, down twenty stories into the ground and let Naruto and Sakura into their cell before locking the door and leaping away. All that was left were the couple and the Anbu captain. As he prepared to leap, Sakura stopped him.

"Wait! What did Naruto do wrong?"

"It is not in my right to say. Why don't you ask him?" The Anbu asked slowly before walking down the corridor.

* * *

(Hours Later in the dark dank prison)

Sakura pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them as she breathed on her hands and rubbed them together as she tried to warm her body up. It had been a couple hours since they'd been put in the cell and Sakura was wishing that they heated these things up.

Inside the cell were the essentials; a bed, and a toilet. She had gone a few minutes ago and Naruto had so nicely turned around, to which Sakura had been grateful for; she didn't want to be in a room with someone so perverted. All the same, Sakura felt comfortable around Naruto, someone she was becoming used to extremely fast and loving the presence of. It confused her to no end at the rate that she was bonding with him, like a starved puppy wolfing down food. It was simply like she was fixated on the idea and persona of Naruto, and she was willing to do anything to keep it.

Sakura thought about these things as she leaned her head on Naruto's comfy shoulder. Naruto simply sat cross legged with his eyes closed as he meditated in a deep trance. Sakura had seen red eyes when he opened them for a moment, but nothing else besides that. Sakura nudged Naruto, gaining his attention and once again seeing the cerulean that she was becoming so used to seeing.

"Um, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Sakura? What is it?" Naruto questioned back

"W-Why are we in here?"

"Sorry…what?"

"Why are we in prison when we've done nothing wrong?"

"You chose to be here with me, and I-…well, I was banished from Konoha a long time ago."

"But-…Naruto, we're still children, barely teens as my mom would say; you couldn't have done anything that bad. Right?"

"Well, not me per say, but my family did. It saved the village, but I had to become an outcast for that to happen."

"W-Why?"

"You saw the fox, right?"

"Well, yeah…a bit. It was kind of far away and the mist was still there. It killed Zabuza,"

"He is the Kyuubii."

Sakura widened her eyes as she remembered around her birth that the fox Kyuubii, a nine tailed fox had thrashed the village and killed many of the ninja and civilians alike.

"But, that was a couple years after I was born…And-" Sakura caught herself and waited for Naruto to tell her if he found her trustworthy. Naruto breathed lightly, his breath turning into frosty mist and joined Sakura who was now on the bed

"Yeah, that was on my fifth...my birthday, Sakura. I wasn't banished right away, but the fox kept coming back. It was angry when I was angry and sad when I was sad."

"One day, I found the Kyuubii, and well you see...demon foxes grow as humans do so we were both just turned five at the time; well a couple months later, the villagers decided to…well Haze me if you could call what they did even that. I got angry at the villagers, I don't remember why, but because of that, Kyuubii got angry and destroyed most of the Southern district in a chakra blast."

"I remember living there. My family's a merchant civilian clan, but we moved to the eastern district soon after my sixth birthday." Sakura recalled as she remembered the move.

"Yeah, so that's why the southern district is now made of the slums of the past eastern district. But anyways, I was finally banished on my seventh birthday and I've been traveling for four years before I found friends and a village of sorts to call my own to live in that would accept the Kyuubii and me."

"Naruto…they can't hold a grudge like that against you for so long." Sakura advised assuredly. Her father told her that everything dissapears in time

"The banishment is by law. I simply Can't stay here." Naruto shook his head dejectedly.

"But-" Sakura had thought about it since she had slept next to Naruto last night. She was going to ask him to rejoin the village; to stay by her side and protect her. Sakura had to admit that actual combat scared her to death.

The idea of killing someone was…beyond her logic. She wanted to heal, to save; in other words, not kill. To preserve life, not take it. She knew that she'd have to take lives to protect those close to her, but for simply killing? But a life should be happy, not sad. And after she had just heard a brief part of Naruto's story and about his childhood, she knew that he needed some happiness in his life; something she could easily give him. That was what she had come up with last night as she drifted off to sleep.

"You…you won't stay? Not even for a bit?" Sakura bit her lip in hope.

Naruto saw the look and sighed, "Please don't look at me with pity and hope like that, but I'll sleep on it. You'll hear the whole story tomorrow anyways. They always fight when I get there." Naruto laid back on the bed and Sakura fell back as well, wrapping her cold arms around him to get comfy and warmer.

So saying, the two fell asleep waiting in anticipation for what tomorrow would bring.

* * *

**So there you have it! Sorry again that it was really short compared to my previous chapters, but it was a clear cut chapter from the next one. I know I'm leaving you a huge cliff hanger, but it's just beginning and I need the time to go through each part of the story with me, myself, and I. Go ahead and surmise a few things for me this time.**

**Who is on the council? Why did they banish a seven year old? Who is the Hokage? What was Naruto held responsible for?**

**R X R your responses and peace out! See you next time!**


	5. The Truth and Something Else

**Hey all you guys! I have had a wonderful week and hope you have had one too. I have decided to put two short chapters into one for you today, so no complaining about a short chapter. Now, as for the reviews;**

**To: Logan Locke, MK Loves NaruSaku, and DiizGirlJess, I agree that size doesn't matter, but for you, you get two chapters in one today, which will also count as my two for the week...maybe...probably not...oh well.**

**To: 7th Demo- Hey! Where are- oh there you ar- hey! get back here! Oh well thanks ;)**

**To: Keeper of Worlds-glad you like it, and if I may ask, how many worlds do you keep? How are they kept? Like starwars empire? Lockdown? Free to roam? Just curious at this exact moment**

**Now, for the two guest reviews that asked great questions;**

**Sanbi & Unono: No, Naruto is not a human host. No sealing ritual was done on him for a giant kyuubi. Naruto's parents did not die due to madara's attack, for which in this story, there is no madara. Naruto gets the demon fox chakra since he is partners with the demon fox summoning pact as well as being the owner of a Kyuubi. Kyuubi is the name of the fox who is the one who destoyed the village in a rampage, you find out more in this chapter. Foxes with nine tails are known as Kyuubi, but since Naruto found one when he was little, he calls his by that name.**

**Wheh! Great questions though! More to Naruto's tale in this chapter...and something else! =)**

**So, as they say in showbiz, break a leg!**

**Sorakage Arc 1**

**Chapter 5: The Truth and something Else**

* * *

The two ninja awoke to the sound of gentle knocking of a metal coin on the bars that sealed them inside their cell. Sakura slowly slid off of Naruto remembering exactly how they had ended up that way last night and smiled before together they leaned up against the walls to their feet and approached the bars. The Anbu captain once again stood before them in the rather dim light.

"Naruto, Ms. Haruno." The captain stated in a monotone voice.

"Geez, Shikamaru," Sakura replied irritated in a morning moody state, "stop it with all the protocol and just take the dang mask off. You know that it bugs me when you do that, and everyone knows it's you when you wear a deer mask like that."

Naruto watched as a boy around their age, a young teen to be exact, took off his Anbu mask and smiled lazily at Sakura.

"Happy now?"

"Yeah." Sakura replied with a big smile on her face.

As Shikamaru unlocked the cell, Naruto heard the words troublesome being repeated over and over again. Naruto looked at Shikamaru and noted down the muscles and confidence he portrayed in the way he walked. Being in Anbu at so young an age made him either a great warrior or a superb strategist in the field. Naruto decided to go with strategist. Naruto and Sakura fell in line next to Shikamaru as they walked up to the council's chambers. Sakura was apparently familiar with the boy, maybe too familiar for Naruto's taste, though he had no reason as to why he thought that way, after all it wasn't like he liked Sakura in a more than extremely friendly friends with benefits sort of way or anything like that. Right?

The three of them headed forward and up the seemingly endless stairs, until they came to a certain door that led into the council's chambers. Shikamaru opened it with a push and stood to the side before letting Naruto and Sakura through to see the council. Naruto and Sakura had talked about it, and Sakura had promised to stay in the shadows while Naruto had his 'talk' with the council. Naruto and Sakura walked out of the cavern that was a hallway and appeared off to the side of the council.

The council room was ordained with many banners of the various clans of Konoha and behind each clan head was their own clan symbol ahead of the rest, and Naruto quickly nudged Sakura towards what he thought was the Haruno symbol, judging by what she wore on the back of her vest. The councilors themselves sat ten feet in the air in back of white-marble desks with stairs leading down the back, out of view of the other seats. The council was split into sets of three and separated by entrances that led into the middle of the circle.

Naruto looked left to right at each and every one of the councilors. There was a man smoking a cigarette sitting in the Sarutobi chair of power, maybe in his middle ages of life. Then there were the Aburame and Inuzuka clans following it. After that came the Hyuuga clan which housed who Naruto knew from his early childhood as Hiashi Hyuuga. The two advisors to the Hokage followed the Hyuuga and Naruto looked towards the next three seats.

He saw for his second time together the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, who each led the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi Clans. Next to them was the Mitarashi clan with a poisonous snake of a woman (Not Anko) laying on top of the alter. Next was the Uchiha clan and there sat Sasuke himself, in lieu of the fact of the attempted and failed Uchiha massacre some years ago leading to a far younger choice to lead the clan, smiling brightly at Naruto as if to say thank you. Naruto nodded before moving on past the lost clan seat of the Namikaze.

Finally, Naruto arrived at the final three clan seats. To the Hokage's right sat Tsunade Senju, as a representative from the Hospital department. The Hokage himself, the old war hawk and still fourth Hokage Danzo Shimura, sat in the middle seat. To his left sat the leader of the Haruno clan. Naruto looked down to see Sakura standing there proudly, and in the shadow of the small alley between the Haruno and the Sarutobi clan seats. He looked up and saw a pink haired man that seemed to be maybe middle aged, possibly thirty five or so. Naruto assumed that this man must be Sakura-Chan's father, or at least a very close relative. Naruto looked to the Hokage and his eyes sliced closer to each other.

"Danzo Shimura."

"What are you doing here, you pathetic Demon?" Danzo questioned calmly but snidely.

"Danzo-San, Naruto here is no demon!" Sasuke interjected for Naruto as he believed that the outburst was ludicrous.

"You are too young to be questioning me on any matter! Besides, you are barely even allowed to claim that chair as of yet." Danzo bellowed out as another councilor dared to speak out against him.

"Then maybe it is time to give Naruto here a chance to explain himself." Nara-San suggested. To the other councilor's nods, he looked towards Naruto. "Naruto, why have you returned from your long-term banishment?"

Naruto was silent for a few seconds before sighing and pointed over to Sakura. "I was returning one of your ninja. My teammate and companion as well as the Kyuubii arrived with Kakashi and Sasuke here a couple days ago as well if they didn't run into any death situations on the way back." Naruto took a moment to glance at Danzo; if such a thing did occur, Danzo would be the one behind it. "I was simply helping you save your ninja."

"Ha! You save someone's life?! You only kill to see the blood spatter!" Danzo screamed again.

At this point, the council called for Sasuke's and Sakura's testimony about the supposed incident. Sasuke stepped down from his seat and told of how he was on the verge of near death before Kirito, Naruto's teammate saved Kakashi and him and brought them back to Konoha safely.

Sakura had then stepped forward and with small tears, told them of the attempted rape and then of Naruto saving her from that, earning a grateful smile from the female councilors. After all was said and done, the council voted and approved that Naruto had gained sanctuary and patience to stay inside Konoha's walls, at least for the time being.

"I may be too young, but as one of the council, I demand to know why Naruto was banished in the first place and from what family he is from." Sasuke suggested.

Naruto watched as the councilors sighed and Naruto decided spoke first.

"Sasuke, Sakura-Chan," Naruto began as he stared at them both, "I was banished because I brought a 'demon' into the very heart of Konoha at the age of six and it became angry and killed many ninja and civilians alike."

"The Kyuubi…" Sakura muttered quietly, but the voice echoed around the room like a whisper in all ears.

"Yes, my dear Haruno. This boy," Tsume Inuzuka began; "Naruto here brought that damned cursed fox into this very village and killed off the majority of your cousins, aunts, and uncles. He is the reason your clan is near extinction. He killed half of the population of Konoha, and was banished for life, to walk with that demon fox till the day he died."

Sakura gulped as she imagined the life that Naruto had been forced to live. Sasuke coughed before raising the point of Naruto's family.

"Oh yes," Hiashi implied. "Naruto was lucky in the sense that he wasn't killed for his actions because his father was indeed of the Namikaze clan, Minato Namikaze. Naruto is no common shinobi; he is one of the prestigious and founding clans of Konoha."

"But by law, you can't banish the last of a clan-" Sasuke began but was cut off.

"Unless they are a threat to the village and the majority of the council agrees to a vote. That is why the Namikaze seat's fire has been extinguished. The Namikaze and their only living survivor Naruto Namikaze will never be able to live or control anything in Konoha." Shikaku ended.

"T-that's terrible!" Sakura screamed as she headed to the middle of the council chambers.

"Sakura, get back here this instant!" Sakura's father screeched.

"No! Naruto was only a child playing with what was most likely a baby fox. He was human, and I'm sure you all would have done the same thing. He's gone through eight years of this torture! End the Banishment!" Sakura screamed.

A hand fell upon Sakura's shoulder and Sakura turned to see Naruto shaking his head back and forth. "They couldn't even if they wanted to Sakura-Chan. Once a banishment of a founding clan is decided, it can never be taken back, Ever."

"B-But…that's not fair!" Sakura cried into Naruto's shoulder. Haruno-San stepped down from his seat and walked out to retrieve his daughter before guiding Sakura back to the darkness of the alleyway where she leaned against the wall, her head turned to the side as the rest of her body failed to move and watched every move that Naruto made.

"Naruto, you can't stay in Konoha, but we are prepared to allow you to stay a maximum of a week to rest and resupply."

"I-," Naruto looked back at Sakura and saw the hope in her sad but hopeful glowing emerald eyes and sighed. "I will stay a week. Nothing more, nothing less."

* * *

(Later that Day)

Sakura walked with a content smile on her face as she laid her head on Naruto's shoulder as they walked around Konoha. Sakura was happy; happy that she was alive, happy that she was home, but most of all, she was happy that Naruto was still beside her even when he did not have to be with her.

Sakura now knew the truth about why Naruto was banished; it was a stupid reason, made into law by anger and distrust. She had seen the saddened faces of most of the councilman, except for the few that sided with Danzo, the current Hokage.

Sakura knew that this…whatever she and Naruto were was… was not going to last. But even if she knew this, she wanted it to last. She wanted to spend every day, every minute…every second with him, but she needed a reason. Something that could possibly start off a chain reaction. _Come on Sakura! Think! Think! Think!_

A thought popped into Sakura's head and immediately Sakura dreaded and loved the idea. But the real question, would Naruto accept it?

"U-um, Naruto?"

"Yeah, Sakura?"

The two stopped near the edge of the marketplace which was in the middle circle of Konoha, with vendors yelling around them and restaurants opening their doors to the many different customers. Sakura sighed and breathed deeply.

"Would you like to get something to eat?" Sakura asked

"Of course," Naruto replied shortly after, "why do you ask?"

"W-well, um…" Sakura twirled a strand of her pink locks around her pointer finger as her gaze dropped down and Sakura looked around herself as she spoke. "I mean, would you want to go with me on a date right now?"

"What exactly do you mean by date?" Naruto questioned as he wondered if Sakura was asking what he thought she was. Sakura had to hold back a groan at Naruto's lack of experience or knowledge to what she was doing.

"A date. You know, that a…boyfriend…girlfriend," Sakura cleared her throat as it became dry. _Was it really so dry this time of year?_

"Oh. So you mean, like kissing and stuff?" Naruto blushed at this.

Sakura saw the blush and smiled bigger as she bit her bottom lip. Naruto looked so cute when he blushed. And OH MAN! Did she want to do those things in the present and future, but Sakura forced herself back. "M-maybe not that far, but yeah."

"I-I would love to." Naruto stammered on_. Why was he stuttering? He always got requests like this in his village, but he'd never accepted one until right now. Why again did he say yes exactly?_

Sakura sighed once again in happiness, and suddenly her hand was wrapped inside Naruto's. Sakura widened her eyes before looking up at Naruto and liked the idea of him making the moves in this...relationship?...maybe?

"So, where to?" Naruto asked.

"Um, well there's this ramen place that my dad goes to. He says that it's really good."

"Ramen? I've never had it before."

"Really? Then let's try it out." Sakura led Naruto down through the marketplace and out the other end before turning onto a side street where a banner hung in a storefront with the words, "Ichikaru Ramen".

Sakura led Naruto to the front where a waitress named Ayame by her name tag, soon seated them in a one sided curved booth by a window overlooking a waterfall. Sakura sat near Naruto, but far enough away from them to see each other without turning their heads.

"So, what can I get the two of you?"

"We will take a large bowl of chicken ramen, with the chicken and herbs, please." Sakura ordered.

"Of course." Ayame wrote down their order and walked away to get their order. As she left, Sakura and Naruto stared at each other, wondering who would break the silence first. After a minute or two, Sakura was the one to break the ice.

"So, u-um, Naruto? What made you stay for the week?"

Naruto gulped as he remembered the look Sakura had given him. It was like he couldn't deny her anything with that look. "Well, I was going to stay a day but then-"

"Mnhmn…"

"Then, I say your puppy dog look on your face-"

"I have a puppy face?" Sakura asked astounded and proud of herself of such an accomplishment. Her mouth gaped at the thought.

"Of course you do. So, I couldn't help but want to stay, so I agreed to the week."

"That's…so sweet." Sakura smiled while a tear ran down her face in happiness. A thought occurred to her though. "So, if I do it again, you'll stay?" Sakura asked as she got closer to Naruto's face.

Naruto's face saddened at the obvious answer. "Sakura, you know I can't." he frowned at the obvious answer

"I know." Sakura admitted as she looked down at the table napkins. She picked one up and examined it slowly. "It was worth a try, though. Right?"

Sakura felt a gentle and loving hand grace her cheek and she stopped in her actions with the napkin as the hand slowly pulled her face up to look back at Naruto.

"I'm glad you tried."

Sakura sniffled as tears began to form at the edge of her eyes. "So am I."

"Hey, don't cry. We can always meet 'Outside' the village, right?"

Sakura thought about it and smiled at the idea as she knew that they could. "You're right."

"Of course I am. With someone as beautiful as you, I can't afford to be wrong." Naruto flirted. _How was it that he suddenly knew how to flirt?_

**This is one of those scenes in romance where you can't explain in context why people do things or thinking of what they're really saying.**

Sakura giggled as she raised her hand back up and started to twirl her hair again. Ayame arrived back with the ramen and winked at Sakura before placing two sets of chop sticks on the table and walked away. Sakura broke hers and dug into the ramen and it was just as good as her father had told her.

Sakura looked over to Naruto and smiled and tried not to crack up as he tried to grab things out of the bowl until finally, he got fed up and decided to just stab a piece of chicken in the center.

Naruto looked up from his hunt for chicken to the sound a pleasant giggling coming from Sakura who tried to hide her amusement with her hand.

"W-what's so funny?"

"Naruto, can you not use chopsticks?"

"N-no. I never learned. Where I live, we use forks and knives."

"Oh…well, I have no clue what a spork or whatever it is called is used for, but let me help you."

Sakura slid over next to Naruto's lap and grab a small amount of ramen with a hand of her chopsticks before placing it near Naruto's mouth while she held her other hand below it for drips.

"Open wide." Sakura insisted as if to a little child.

"W-what-" Naruto began before Sakura thrusted the ramen into Naruto's mouth. Naruto widened his eyes as the taste became a flavor that he would soon come to love. Sakura continued to feed him a few more times before she turned to face him and flipped her hair back.

"Now, you feed me."

"R-right." Naruto nervously grabbed the chopstick with the chicken on it and placed it near Sakura. He watched as Sakura closed her eyes and edged it closer to her opened mouth.

Sakura felt the stick touch her lips and bit down, but the chicken wasn't there. She opened her eyes to see the chicken on the other chopstick.

"Naruto," Sakura drawled, annoyed at the trick that her date had played on her.

"Sorry. I couldn't help it." Naruto chuckled with a warm smile.

"Just put it in my mouth," Sakura chastised as she closed her eyes once more and opened her mouth wide. After a few more seconds of nothing, Sakura sighed before nocking Naruto on the side of his head.

**(Warning: Next part is a little Raunchy, but then again, that's part of why its rated M, isn't it?)**

"Place it in my mouth, Naruto."

"W-What?" Naruto asked astonished at such a different thought appeared in his mind.

"What do you mean, 'what'?"

"It sounded…well, dirty." Naruto mumbled.

"…Oh Naruto!" Sakura scoffed before she grabbed the chicken and tried to place it in her own mouth. Unfortunately, the chicken had a mind of its own and dropped off the chopstick and down Sakura's blouse. Sakura screeched a bit as she felt it enter the valley between her breasts.

"N-Naruto, grab it." Sakura moaned a bit as she felt the chicken move ever so slightly.

"W-w-with my hand?" Naruto asked astounded.

"No! The chopsticks…"_ Geez. Asking to grope me on a first date…what next?_

Naruto edged closer and dropped the end of the chopsticks into the neck of Sakura's blouse. Sakura felt wooden pegs grabbed something and moaned out loud as she leaned back into the headrest behind her.

"Na-ruto, that-that's not the chicken." Sakura bit her tongue to keep another moan down. Naruto moved the chopstick over and tried again making Sakura lean deeper. "Other one. Naruto between them." Naruto said sorry before the chopsticks found their way to the piece in between her breasts and pulled it out.

Sakura leaned forward and saw Naruto leaning in to eat the piece of chicken.

"Naruto…don't you-"

Naruto bit into the chicken before quickly gulping it down into his stomach. Silence followed for a while before Sakura spoke. _Unbelievable_._ Going from groping to tweaking in a minute flat, and I insisted on it! _Sakura thought with dread.

"Did you Really, just do that?"

"Um, yeah. I think I did." Naruto admitted

"…How did I-I mean, how did it taste?"

Naruto looked deeply into Sakura's emerald eyes, before whispering into her ear. "It tasted amazing."

Sakura blushed deeply before a strangled cough alerted her to look to see Ayame standing there with a blush on her face.

"I'm sorry; I found the situation amusing, but some of the customers have asked that you stop your lovey-dovey escapades."

"S-sorry." Sakura stumbled, before looking to Naruto and thought of the past situation and the fact that they'd been caught just made it priceless. So the both of them…

Three

Two

One

The both of them cracked up like no tomorrow.

* * *

"I still can't believe that I grabbed both of them!" Naruto exclaimed as he walked Sakura home. Sakura giggled with a huge smile as she remembered the feeling. _It felt amazing. Is that what it feels like to have a man like Naruto touch you?_

"Well,-" Sakura began as they reached her house, "I-I had a great time Naruto."

"So did I, Sakura-Chan."

(Giggles) "I like that, Naruto-Kun."

"Really? Then I'll call you by that. And I too like the Kun you add to mine. Will I see you tomorrow, then?"

"Sure," Sakura said quickly. "W-what will we be doing?"

"Well, I don't know yet. But I'm sure we'll find something to do, right?" Naruto questioned suggesting something. Sakura simply blushed as she nodded and watched as Naruto headed back down from where they had come from before stepping inside to the storm that she knew was awaiting her.

* * *

**Hope you liked it all, both parts. Yep, I added in a date to slowwwww ttthhinnggssss ddddoooowwwwwnnnnn...and back up to speed. I'll add in an AN next time describing how Sasuke became the head of the family, but still ask the question, as well as any concerns or thoughts troubling you about my story. After all, how else do I strive to make it better in the future.**

**Till next time,**

**Howl!**


	6. The Promise

**Olivi4nlife: That will be affirmed in this chapter so read on**

** Keeper of Worlds, Lonely Athena: Im glad you both liked the plotline. BTW Athena, do you have a Parthanos hidden somewhere of you? (Roman Joke.) Look it up. You are the wisdom goddess after all.**

**Sanbi, ZeroTails317, Diizgirl jess: Glad to be of help and to have your amazing input!**

**Logan Locke: Really? You think I can achieve that? Aw, you make me blush in total wanting of those amount of reviews. That's it! You just set my new goal. And there always has to be dissension in any team or government. Just as elephants must squeeze into a space with a bunch of heehaws.**

**Thank you to all who reviewed and to those who have reach my story count and to this chapter. Here's the latest. Let the Drama Commence!**

**Sorakage Arc 1**

**Chap 6: The Promise**

* * *

Sakura's smile diminished as soon as she opened the door to her home and headed inside.

"Sakura! Where have you been?!" Her father screamed at the top of his lungs as he got up from sitting in the living room and watched his daughter walk in through the front door.

"None of your business, dad!" Sakura retorted back as she passed by him in the hallway, her father entering as she passed.

"Sweetheart," her mother replied as she walked out of the kitchen, effectively blocking her escape route. They always did this, cornering her like a rat in a maze with no real exit but only an entrance. "Where were you?"

"I was out, mom." Sakura let out a breath of air in retort.

"For four hours?! I don't think so; you were supposed to come straight home. That's what I told you to do right after I pulled you back after your outrageous outburst this afternoon" Sakura's father bellowed out behind her, his protectiveness projecting out at his daughter.

"Four hours?" Sakura whispered as she recalled the events of recent past, from the simple lunch and the walk. It was all so peaceful and…perfect. A serene smile adorned her face. "It felt like one."

"What?" Sakura's mother asked stunned at her daughter's simple answer before looking closer at her actions and her dreamy attitude before she asked a question that she thought she wouldn't need to ask until maybe a year or two from now. "Sakura, sweetheart, were you on a date?"

"Yes mom, I was." Sakura honestly replied knowingly full well that her parents would find out everything in the next few minutes.

"Oh and who was the lucky young man?" Her mother questioned, already forgetting o be mad at her and instead heading for the new information.

"Um…" Sakura had seen the hatred in her father's eyes when he'd seen Naruto once again. Her father didn't bear hated towards anyone, so how could he hate Naruto? What if her mother felt the same way?

"You left the chambers with that boy, didn't you?" Her father stated accusingly. "You went with Naruto?"

"Where have I heard that name before?" Sakura mother thought for a second. "Oh…" Yuki sighed dejectedly as she remembered, "the demon child. "

"Mother! Don't you ever call him that again!" Sakura screamed at her mother suddenly, who gulped deeply and stepped a little farther back from her obviously emotional-at-the-moment daughter.

"I am sorry, sweetheart. It's just that that was his title, since his name was stricken from Konoha."

"Stricken?" Sakura asked, confused for once on the meaning of a word. "Dad? What does mom mean?" Sakura questioned as she looked back to her father with a small trail of tears dropping down her face.

Her father sighed slowly as his anger waned. "You must remember from hearing it from the council, but when a founding clan is banished, their last members are taken off all but a few key documents that stated that they were here. Naruto, his last name, and any mention of him have each been removed from the village archives."

"Sweetheart, the Nami- Namikaze's, they owned the banking firms in Konoha. I'm sure that you remember this from your academy days."

"I know that. They had the uncanny luck at gambling and always won bets. The Senju won these bets only when there were soon to be bad omens, so they gave those rights to the Namikaze who knew how to spend money wisely and were great traders as well as ninja."

"You see, Sakura," her father added, "the name had to be stricken so that our banking clans weren't banished or disgraced as well." Maki said offhandedly. Unfortunately, that set Sakura's emotions into overdrive.

"But-Dad! That very banishment was made in a fit of anger and resentment! Naruto has spent half of his life in ruins! He deserves the respect of the village that he grew up in! I can't believe that you can't see that!"

And with that, Sakura ran past her mother with tears streaming down her face, up the stairs and slammed the door to her room, before throwing herself onto the bed as she cried into the pillow her head resided on, as her parents discussed the day's events and what to do about their daughter.

* * *

Meanwhile, Naruto entered the house that his teammate had rented out for the remainder of their stay. As he entered the study, he saw Kirito reading a scroll of some sort and Kyuubii lying next to an open seat reserved for him. As Naruto sat down in a chair next to the roaring fire, Kirito spoke up.

"So…how was it?"

"The council isn't repenting."

"Told you they wouldn't." Kirito replied as he sipped a glass of pure water.

"I never said they would, but if a village attacks those that have tried to repent, then we are no better than they are." Naruto surmised quickly

"I know. That's why I left the hidden mist after they so kindly rejected me once again. Hey," Kirito replied as he stretched his arms back, "at least you found a girl. Right?" Kirito smirked lightly. Naruto rolled his eyes at the notion that he'd been recorded or spied on, something highly likely in the shinobi world.

"Maybe," Naruto replied as he remembered and reflected back on the date. "I can't help but wonder what would have happened if I'd never left the village?"

"You'd be with that girl right now, but under better circumstances." Kirito replied as he balanced his chair on a single leg.

"And you'd never have met Asuna," Naruto retorted with a smirk as Kirito fell backwards in his chair tumbling onto the ground.

"You're right of course," Kirito replied as he picked up his chair and sat back down. "She was of the hidden earth village, so I might have killed her by now."

"Naw, if war broke out, we're fourteen now. We don't even count as Chunnin, but you and I and Asuna know that we could easily beat most Jounin."

"Our village is made of good people too."

"I know, but because it only has two thousand shinobi, they would even only consider us a small village, when we control all the wonderful talent."

"Mnn, speaking of which, did you come up with a matra for the village yet?"

"Yeah."

_The earth and Sky meet and pass,_

_The earth stays in its unfaithful ways,_

_The sky moves and hides what can be seen_

_The change occurs and the storm begins_

_When all is said and done_

_A new world is shown,_

_But the Earth is new to the change_

_As the Sky watches from above._

"It's nice, needs some work still."

"Yeah, but it's all blood, sweat and tears really."

"So then if one attacks us…to war?" Kirito questioned as he held his glass up.

Naruto smiled as he clinked his glass with his partner's. "To war."

* * *

(A couple Hours Later)

Sakura heard her door creak open and looked from her desk into the mirror in front of her and saw her father standing in her doorway.

"Hey Dad…" Sakura greeted meekly.

"Sakura…May I come in?"

"You know that you never have to ask that, Dad." Sakura answered as she turned in her seat of the chair and faced her father who walked over to Sakura's bed before sitting down upon it and looking around the room. After a minute or two of seeing all the new posters and clothes, Sakura's father sighed.

"My little girl is really growing up, aren't you?"

"I'm a ninja now, dad. I must grow and adapt or die."

"But…why must you like the demon child?" Sakura's father asked innocently as he visibly moved to worry for his only child. "I don't want to lose my baby girl."

"Oh dad," Sakura moved and sat next to her father, "I'll always be your little girl. But I really like Naruto. Just let me do this."

"Your mother and I have talked this over."Maki spoke aloud

"…And?..." Sakura asked, beyond curious of what they had spoken about.

"I wanted to ban you from leaving the village or the house and…"

"Dad!"

"I know. Your mother and I have decided that we are willing for you to date Naruto."

"Oh! Thanks dad!" Sakura wrapped her arms around her father's neck.

"Okay okay." The father said as he dragged Sakura's arms down. "But there are a few conditions."

"Uh oh."

"That's right. Every month, we want you to go on a date with another guy, even if it's halfheartedly. If you don't like anyone else in five months, then it's all clear for you to date whoever it is your heart desires."

"So, I date five guys while I'm dating Naruto?" Sakura stated plainly with a slight hint of pain sounding in her voice at the thought of potentially cheating on Naruto.

"Essentially. Besides, Naruto IS only staying a week, Sakura."

"I know." Sakura sighed before moving to the real question. "Why do you bear hatred and not like Naruto, Dad?"

"It's not that I don't like him sweetheart or bear direct hatred." Sakura's father muddled his words as he tried to find the right ones to say to his thirteen year old daughter. "It just for some leading reasons. First, he did lead to the killing of most of our clan. They were family Sakura. My father, your mother's mother and sister. My three brothers and their families. Plus, our family's position on the council to take into account…"

"I know. We lead the civilian's vote on the council and must vote on their behalf over our own. That's why we sit next to the Hokage. I know that, but it seems so mean and cruel to Naruto."

"It was cruel." Sakura father admitted. "Even now, I still regret making that type of a decision on such a young boy and even more a child. But you know, maybe you dating Naruto will help the village see the good side to Naruto."

"I might do that."

"You know," Sakura's father replied aimlessly as he moved to the door, "Naruto could stay in the village if he changed his last name to Haruno."

"Naruto Haruno? Really dad? I think Sakura Namikaze sounds so much better!"

"Stay with what you have till you're older and going to marry a guy and then we'll talk."

"Okay. Night dad."

"Goodnight, Sweetheart."

* * *

**Hope you liked it all. R X R to tell me of any ideas you have for this story or what you thought of this one, and I'll post soon! SO stay tuned! **


	7. Kiss in the Fog

**Hey you guys! Surprise! What another chapter! So Soon?! What is this author doing? Now I have a sudden happiness flowing through me.**

**olivi4nlife: I'm glad that you're curious. Anyways; curiosity killed the cat...but Satisfaction...brought it back.**

**ahmadaziz: I am a guy too, but you have to remember that they are young, as in they don't know what they're doing that much. Then that in Sakura's personality. It's obvious she should get with Naruto already in the anime, but she loved Sasuke openly. Kind of cheating, but think of it as a testing the waters to make sure you liking the person is pure.  
**

**Logan Locke: Thank for the input and advice. Btw, you should get a fanfic account for your name. It's really cool and sounds upbeat and sophisticated, like how you critique.**

**The Keeper of Worlds: Glad you liked of course I would have Asuna in this fic with her meant to be. No sense in leaving them out.**

**DiizGiirlJess: Dad are always supportive of their baby girls. My dad certainly was to my sisters. Too much so. Glad to know you missed me. Wonder what would happen if i suddenly went hiatus on this? ;) **

**Animaman: Sounds like a good plotline, but that won't be it specifically for this story.  
**

**ZeroTails317: Really?! it's only two hundreds words less than my usual! And no, Kyuubii does not talk, at least...not that I know of, which is kind of weird, being my fic in all. And as with kirito, you will find out more as time goes on.**

**Lonely Athena: Glad you liked the simplicity of it all. and thanks for the comment.**

* * *

**So, judging from my reviewers, I have deduced some things.**

**1) You guys like Kirito and would like to know more about him and trust me...you will. He is Kirito from SOA, Swords Art Online. He had a similar personality but not comepletely. and yes, he has the swords, but now the ones in SOA. **

**And 2) Apparently, you all think i'm going to write on five different dates for Sakura?! Are you crazy?! That's not even in my story! Just a random fact that i through in my sleep induced state. But...I am willing to write one for you guys this week. It isn't and won't be a major part to my story and may slow down my speed at posting the chapters by a week or a few days. So my question to you is should i do it? I won't do a chapter for each date, more like summaries and funny events of humor and stuff of that sort. R X R**

**Disclaimer: made possible to your fanfiction station by veiwers and reviewers like you. Thank You! (PBS Joke ;) )**

**Sorakage Arc 1**

**Chap 7: Kiss in the Fog**

* * *

The sun went down and came up repeatedly as the days passed before a new day arrived. Sakura woke up and immediately her first thoughts of the day remembered the past week that had seemed to just fly by. Sakura quickly got up and began her morning routine of showering and makeup and everything else that a female kunoichi would do to get ready.

_Got to do something for Naruto. How will we stay connected? Will we stay in this relationship? Are we even IN a real and true relationship?!_

These thoughts and more plagued Sakura's mind as she ate breakfast alone since her parents were out of the village for a next couple of days. If they had grounded her, this would have been the day to spend with Naruto. Sadly for them but happy for the young couple, Naruto and Sakura had spent so much time together, that they had agreed to give Naruto time to pack up before meeting up later that night and sleeping under the stars together. A small compensation for a date, but Sakura would take that any day.

As Sakura thought of him, she remembered that she could simply talk to her best friend in the whole village about these plaguing questions. With that happy thought in mind, Sakura quickly washed her plate off in the sink and headed off to speak with her best friend.

* * *

Sakura soon arrived at the flower shop and saw that the shop was busy as usual. She shrugged with a smile before marching into the shop, intent on getting to her friend. Sakura saw maybe fifteen or so people looking at certain flowers and her best friend's parents helping them out. Soon, Sakura saw the friend she was looking for standing directly before her wrapping up some bouquets for an order.

Standing before Sakura was a girl of obvious beauty, who could get any guy in her near future years. The girl hummed softly to herself as she shook her ass back and forth and Sakura quickly cleared her throat to get her attention. The girl turned to show an extremely feminine body and Sakura had to admit that her best friend caught many a man's attention from what she had seen when they were around one another.

The girl's eyes widened as she took in the person before her before widening her eyes and grinning like the happiest girl in the world. She immediately ran up and initiated a brief running girl hug. As they separated, the girl started to speak.

"Hey Forehead, you're back!"

"Hey Ino-Pig. Actually, I have to admit that I've been back for a week now."

"What?! But you promised to visit me!" The girl known as Ino complained, as she crossed her arms underneath her breasts to further accentuate them. Sakura laughed quietly at their little agreement to visit each other after their missions.

"Well, I got a little…side-tracked." Sakura said as she twirled her finger in her hair and looked down to hide a developing blush. Ino was not one to not notice such an obvious trait from her best friend and smiled devilishly.

"Who got you sidetracked?"

"What do you mean by who? It could have been something else."

"No, only people get YOU, Sakura Haruno, sidetracked. Soooo…who is it?" Ino asked in slow and chirpy voice.

"Well, it's a…guy…"

Ino gasped at the fact that Sakura admitted it so easily. Even the brief fling for Sasuke had made Sakura as hard to crack as an egg made of steel. This guy must mean a lot to Sakura for her to reveal her feelings so easily.

"Well? Tell me about him…"

"Okay," Sakura began slowly but rapidly sped up. "Well, he's just amazing Ino. He's smart, and handsome, and…Plus, he did save my life."

"What? He did?" Ino asked shocked as much as a valley girl.

"Yeah. Twice."

"Tell me about it."

* * *

(Two Hours Later)

"Wow, he really did all that?"

"He did, Ino. It's the absolute truth."

"So, when did you first know that you liked him?"

"Truthfully, I don't know Ino. I mean, it all happened so fast and I feel like I've known him forever. But…I'd have to say that I liked him the first moment I looked into his cerulean eyes."

"Wow, so love at first sight huh?"

Sakura smiled meekly as she looked at Ino. "Basically."

"But Sakura, if I remember correctly from what you've just told me, Naruto is going to leave the village tomorrow morning, so why are you here?"

"Ino, I haven't visited you because I've spent the whole week with Naruto and-"

"Wait! You mean, the Whole week? Like every waking moment?"

"Yeah. Ino, but I'm a little scared. What if Naruto forgets about me? We have no way to contact the other."

"Sakura, why don't you just write letters to each other?" Ino suggested.

Sakura slapped her hand to her forehead. "Ino-Pig! You're a genius!"

"Well Forehead, I've always been a gorgeous genius all my life."

"Naruto says that I'm the most beautiful girl he's ever seen," Sakura shyly said as a snide comment but Ino laughed it off like taking a grain of salt.

"And He'd better!" Ino insisted. "If you two are dating, you'd better be the most beautiful to him. But Sakura, don't be Too jealous if he looks at another girl, okay? I know how you get sometimes."

Sakura scoffed. "Oh please, we talked about that a couple days ago and we're okay with a little flirting but no touching. Absolutely No Touching. Only thinking about it. Besides, I'll just have Naruto ravage me later on."

"Wait!" Ino sputtered. "Sakura…have you and Naruto…done the deed?"

"What?" Sakura asked not understanding the question

"God Sakura! Popped the cherry? Do it? Sakura stilled looked at Ino like an innocent puppy.

"Ugh…had sex?" Ino practically assaulted Sakura.

Sakura blushed as bright as her hair as images of Naruto pumping deep into Sakura as she screamed out his name in pleasure. Sakura quickly shook her head no and held her hands over her blushing face. Ino sighed at the sight.

"Um, Ino…do you think it's ever alright to have the girl take the lead?"

"Of course, Sakura. Guys can be so clueless, but they are also very loving because of that."

"So, if I Did want Naruto to take me?..."

"Then I'd wait, Sakura. By what you've told me, Naruto seems like a pretty patient guy."

"He's very persistent. His code is to never give up."

"Hard to do too. But Sakura, I'd wait. 'Patience makes the heart grow fonder' as my mother always says."

"What does that mean?"

"No clue. It just sounds nice."

"Thanks Ino." Sakura replied as she leaned off the counter and started back out the door. Thanks for the advice.

"It's okay to kiss him though!"

"Ino-PIG!" Sakura groaned, as a couple customers turned to look between them with questioning stares.

"Love you too!" Ino shouted back as she watched Sakura's retreating figure before turning back to the customers at hand.

* * *

Later that day into the night when the sun had long ago set, Sakura found herself lying down on a grassy hill with Naruto lying down beside her. The wind blew lightly around them and she saw the grass blow lightly to the right of their vision. Sakura looked straight up at the many stars in her vision and saw how they twinkled on and off in the night sky.

"They look so beautiful," Sakura whispered aloud to Naruto.

"Yeah…They are." Naruto whispered back.

Sakura looked over and saw that Naruto had not been looking at the night sky but instead at her. Sakura blushed deeply and smiled.

"Geez Naruto, you keep saying things like that and I'll have to kiss you."

"Well, why aren't you?" Naruto asked as he leaned towards Sakura getting on his elbows.

"Well I…" Sakura sighed happily, "you know what? I have no reason, I guess."

"Then…what do we d-do?" Naruto asked suggestively, but still a little nervous

"I guess we kiss."

Sakura picked herself up and leaned in closer to Naruto. The two of them slowly closed their eyes and ever so slowly touched the other's lips with their own. It started off slow and sensual as each began to slowly explore the new experience. Slowly though, Naruto felt Sakura become more aggressive in her kissing.

Not one to be outdone in anything he did, he increased his pace and soon the two were sucking the air out of the other and exchanging oxygen. Naruto felt a tongue trail along his outer lips but he resisted. As Sakura moaned, her mouth opened a bit and Naruto took the time allotted to push his own tongue through the opening.

Sakura felt Naruto's tongue slip past her line of defense and moaned in pleasure out of the feeling as his tongue wrapped and intertwined with hers. Sakura slid past Naruto and together, they took the time to explore the other's hidden cavern as well as the experience.

After a while…a very long while, the two ended their very first real kiss. Sakura sighed happily as she laid her chin on Naruto's chest as she looked up at him. Naruto stayed upright on his elbows as he looked at Sakura.

"Sakura, I never thought you'd be so…so…" Naruto wondered.

"What?" Sakura asked waiting to hear what her boyfriend had to say about her.

"Aggressive," Naruto finished.

"Oh. I-I guess I am. Aggressive good or Aggressive bad?" Sakura said behind her bangs.

"Don't hide it. I like it a lot. It's definitely a great aspect to you." Naruto said happily as he reached up and brought her hair behind her ear. Sakura-Chan, I have to say this; I don't know what I'm doing exactly or how I can explain this feeling, but I have a deep strong feeling for you.

Sakura smiled brighter than ever before at his confession before remembering the topic she had had earlier that day.

"Hey, Naruto-Kun?"

"Yeah?"

"We're-um boyfriend-girlfriend right now, right?"

"Of course we are. Though, I believe we've had this conversation already." Naruto smirked and Sakura followed suit.

"We have. It's just that how are we going to keep in contact with each other?"

"You know, I've been thinking about that as well."

"Really?" Sakura asked. "I have too."

"Here; on the count of three we say what we're thinking of?"

"On three?"

"Yeah. Ready?"

"Ready."

"One…Two…Three!"

"Letters/Letters!" They shouted in unison.

Silence followed for a few seconds before slowly, a chuckling sounded and the laughter grew in size until they were holding the other steady.

"You know, I have to admit; I got that idea from my friend Ino."

"The…blonde, right?" Naruto guessed as he pointed his finger as he did so.

"Yeah."

"Okay…so anyways, the letters." Naruto tried to remain on topic as Sakura kissed his jawline.

"Right. So, I know that the wastelands can't be crossed; well, besides you." Sakura jeered playfully as she trailed a string of kisses down Naruto's jaw, eliciting a small moan from him.

"Well, there's a town near the border of the wasteland in the land of Fog. You can send it there and I'll cross over every Sunday to pick it up?"

"Naruto? You'd cross the wasteland for me?"

"Sakura, I'd do that and more."

"How would you start the letter?"

"Let's see," Naruto thought and gazed up at the stars.

_Dear my beloved Sakura-Chan,_

_I have yet to leave you and yet my heart aches for you,_

_You are so beautiful that you have injected my thoughts of only you,_

_I Love you,_

_Naruto-Kun_

"Oh! Naruto! I just want to kiss you!"

"Well-" Naruto began, before Sakura leaned forward and the new couple's second kiss began anew with aggressiveness and passionate love in the night air.

* * *

The sun arose into the sky on its ascent to its peak. As it shined upon the north gate of Konoha, Kirito, the Kyubii, Naruto, and Sakura stood just passed the wooden gates. Naruto looked back and saw Danzo and some of his subordinates in the retreating shadows after he'd crossed the wooden barrier and knew that he'd never be able to get back inside, or at least for the time being.

"Well, Sakura-Chan, I guess this is goodbye."

"Naruto-Kun, when will I see you again?" Sakura pleaded as she hugged Naruto deeply.

"Well Sakura-Chan, we can meet anywhere outside the village."

"You're right! Naruto-Kun, can't I come with you?!"

"You can't Sakura-Chan. You're a ninja of Konoha…and I'm a ninja from the…wasteland. But every time we have time off, let's meet somewhere."

"Where?" Sakura asked immediately.

" Do you know of Mizu Huki?"

"In the land of fog? Yeah, I know it."

"I'll meet you there when you have some free time, and we'll go from there. If you do need to find me, ask around the area. They'll know where to get in touch with me."

"I hope that I won't need to." Sakura said before she brought Naruto in for a kiss.

* * *

Up on a balcony, Ino watched the two kiss in the lengthening sunlight. She watched as Naruto soon dipped Sakura down to within an inch of the ground. The kissing got fiercer and Ino grew wide eyed as she saw how much of a lustful woman Sakura became when around this Naruto character.

A cough separated them and Naruto pulled away much to Sakura's displeasure. Sakura growled devilishly before playfully biting Naruto's lips. After a second, she released it and smiled before giving a last peck to his lips and backed up, calsping her hands behind his back.(As in the anime)

"Goodbye, Naruto-Kun."

"I'll see you soon, Sakura-Chan."

Naruto turned around and walked away with his team on his sides and Naruto waved at his girlfriend till she could see him no more.

* * *

**So there you have it! Introduced Ino who I'm sure everyone knows. Not what you thought right? Deceptive title? **

**R X R Timberwolfe: Howllllll!**


	8. A Surprise

**Hello to all that are reading this after midnight and the day following as I have learned throughly that most reviews are made for those first two days of a new chapter's release. So for my favorite viewers;**

**Keeper of Worlds: You are correct...it is only...The Beggining. Mwhahaahahahahaha!**

**Zerotails317: Sorry you had to wait so long, if only you had a tail to play with... Huh? ;) anyways, totally agree with you on aggressive Sakura. I did write it after all, and I don't write things that I don't like.**

**Logan Locke: Oh no...you deserve what I said. The point of an account is yes, to post stories, but also to post reviews to you can find and think over after a certain time has passed. It also allows other to know the real you by reading your profile, if you have one. I know I don't much with mine. **

**DiizGirlJess: Ahhh! I take it back! Please, No! I'd only do that if you guys made me write new parts or something like that, but I'd inform you guys first. And I've done just what you suggested, so thank you for the advice.**

**Animaman: They will, trust me...have I ever steered you wrong?...wait don't answer that? No, don't touch that review button...don't-**

**Anyways**

**Nanai: His clan's money is in banks and they owned the banks, but that was part of the reason why they village stripped his name from nearly everything. So he got the short stick to be short. Great question though.**

**MK Loves NaruSaku: It's a nickname-a very endearing addition in the japanese culture. I like it, and I'll try to lessen it a bit, but never when they're together. Naruto still adds -Chan, and all anyone says is that he's crazy for Sakura. **

**Sortofbored: Hope you're not sleeping while reading this, but I thank you for your input into the making of this story.**

* * *

**Oh My Gosh! I love you reviewers! I could make a whole story with your reviews and thoughts. A random thought to add since most people don't actually read what's above this line is that I myself think cussing people out is childish. So why would I degrade someone like that? Would you really take away a little kid's lollipop just to see the their tears brimming out of their eyes?**

**Also, I've decided that my story is to be split into Arcs. Don't worry though, one story all the way through instead of five different story titles and sequels. I may go back to add in the Arc Names but for now sit back, drink some soda, eat some chips, have some celery, and if you're asleep, wake up, cause this chapter is for you to relax and enjoy.**

**Sorakage**

**Arc 2: Rescue Arc**

**Chapter 8: A Surprise**

* * *

(Set 1 year later after Naruto's departure)

A trio of ninja travelled through the trees at a reasonable pace; a pace at least for that of trained ninja. The three ninja had received a mission about two hours prior to their departure from their home village of Konoha and were heading northwest to a camp that had been said to be ridden with the remnants of the Northern Rogues that plagued the northern border towns and patrols of Konoha.

The Northern Rogues had been reported to have been beaten down to five or six men left and so the team assembled would finish them off now that their base of operations was known to them by a scout's report. Leading the team in his new ex-Anbu, Jounin vest was Shikamaru Nara who was followed by his Chunnin teammates Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno.(Once a team reaches Chunnin, they aren't always together, hence why no Sasuke, Kakashi).

Right now, Shikamaru was wishing for anything besides this mission. He hated going on missions for one. A second would be that his teammate Ino was looking at Sakura intently and he knew that a long talk was bound to happen between them. Ino for herself kept looking at Sakura, and her new attire.

Sakura wore a flimsy black skirt with a red streak down the sides with black military combat boots that came up to the middle of her legs, just shy of her knees. A pink mesh covered her stomach and moved up to her shoulders and down her arms. Most of that was covered by the black vest/jacket that Naruto had given Sakura when he'd saved her four seasons ago, though she currently wore it without the sleeves as it was a warm day.

Ino would have liked the attire enough but Sakura had done more than that. Her hair had grown a little longer, reaching to the edge of the lower portion of her shoulder blades. It was now styled with a slight wave to it, giving an allusion to the wind in Sakura's hair, to which Ino knew exactly who that reminded Sakura of.

Next to come was a red headband with Sakura's new ninja plate was wrapped around the top of her head and tied underneath her wavy hair. She had originally had a blue one before she had left on her vacation, but Sakura had returned with that one and Ino was going to find out.

Finally, a red cross on black covered Sakura's right arm, signally to all that she was a medical ninja. About two months after Naruto had left; Sakura had marched into the Hokage's office and had asked for Tsunade-Sama to teach her in the medical arts.

Suffice to say that Tsunade had been surprised but thrilled and had taken Sakura on as another apprentice. Sakura, in Ino's mind as much as most others, was a prodigy at medical ninjutsu. Her skills had been proven before her vacation as she had been promoted to a Chunnin medical officer.

Due to her natural abilities, Sakura had been given chakra paper and had been astounded to watch as the paper buzzed with electricity and then soaked with water. So Sakura had a double affinity of water and lightning, allowing her to control the blood flow and the nervous system so as to keep her patients alive for longer periods of time; a rarity in the medical core as with any doubled affinity.

"Hey Sakura," Ino said to gain her attention.

"Yeah Ino?" Sakura asked as she turned to face her long time best friend with a small but significant smile that made Ino believe that Sakura's mind was still on her vacation with a certain someone.

"You never told me about your vacation in Mizu Huki. You promised me that you would." Ino insisted with a pouting face.

Sakura smiled knowingly, as to let Ino know that she would tell her in time, just as she had explained to her the dates that she had gone on just eleven months before now. There had been five of them, and let's just say that they did not hold up to expectations.

* * *

The first one Sakura had gone on, was to say…non-appealing whatsoever. It was with a pale as the moon kid named Sai who punched her HARD in the arm as a way of greeting. Then during their entire date, he kept quoting books. And these were not good books. Books on the anatomy of women, of desires of lust, of emotional turmoil! And every time she told him to shut up, he chalked it up to her time of the month- I mean…geez! The date had simply been a walk around a graveyard, and Sakura knew that Sai belonged there.

The second date had been morbid. The guy had taken her to see a movie, a chick flick of poor quality, and it wasn't even in a good area of town. Sakura could simply hear the rats scurrying around beneath the seat. To top it off, the guy had started crying long before herself, and she ended up playing the one calming HIM DOWN! Geez, such a loud whiner.

Halfway through, and Sakura got an Akimichi for a date. I mean, come on! She had seen Choji eat and was sick, but this guy…he talked with his mouth full and overflowing like no tomorrow. The table soon filled with his mess and Sakura had to excuse herself before the date had ended as she left for the bathroom and literally threw up in the sink.

The fourth guy was actually the best of the bunch. He was a nice guy, a gentleman through and through. He picked her up and took her to the lake to relax, then some lunch, and finally, some movie about a hero who earned the respect of his country, and saved it from certain doom. But then the girl he loved died in the end and Sakura was crying at the end as they exited. He had walked her to the door and when she had spewed out about a great time she had, he had said sorry but he liked another girl. Oh well. She had someone too.

For the last date, she had a morning hike with a Nara boy a couple years older than her. He seemed athletic enough for a civilian, but she knew why as they reached the top and he collapsed on the grassy hillside and was soon asleep, feeling the sun on his face.

So yes, Sakura told Ino all about these dates and her time with her boyfriend was no exception to the equation. But as she was not really an observant person when on the move in the trees as it was. She could easily detect genjutsu but normal observations were beyond her capacity.

* * *

"Well Ino, now's not the best time-"

"Okay, we'll take a break for an hour to reserve our chakra. It wouldn't do well to go in at half strength." Shikamaru stated before lying down to watch the clouds.

"Now we have time." Ino replied as the two sat down on a log and faced each other.

"Okay, well…you see…I HAD SO MUCH FUN!" Sakura screamed before tackling Ino off the log. Ino tried to get up, but Sakura proved stronger and sat there straddling her waist and kept talking.

"First, I got the approval from Shisou, and I sent Naruto my letter. And when I got there, he got behind me and carried me like a bride to the hotel there and we stayed in that room for a whole week."

"So…you did that?"

"No… but we couldn't stop making out for about a whole day."

"So close, so what else did you do?"

"Well…" Sakura began a far off smile gracing her porcelain face.

* * *

(Flashback)

Naruto dropped his boxers before quickly wrapping a towel around his lower waist. He proceeded to place his clothing in a basket and slid it into a slot in the wall. Naruto proceeded out of the male's changing room and went outside before closing the sliding glass door behind him.

Before him was a natural hot spring where Sakura had suggested that they relax at for the evening. The area was surrounded by a line of wooden poles that made a fence that prevented most people from peeking in on the men and women of the hot springs.

Inside that was a mixture of grey colored rocks that acted as a floor for the hot springs so that the people who entered would not slip on the surface. And encircled in the stones was the hot water itself that casted a slight fog into the air and made for a hot and moist atmosphere inside the fenced in area.

Naruto walked forward and dropped the towel before he folded it up and placed it down next to the water's edge before dipping into the water himself. He sighed happily and closed his eyes as he felt the water cool his muscles and made them relax with the heat of the ever warming water. He would have to thank Sakura for this idea when they met up again in a n hour or two.

A light footfall alerted Naruto to the presence of another man inside the area. By the sound of the steps, this man was a lightweight; a really, really light person. He put chakra into his ears to amplify the sounds of the man.

The man was light; that's for sure. But he seemed to sway his hips like a girl! He had no upper body strength by the fact of his muscle sounds sounding so feminine and instead the upper body seemed to sway in a way like a female as well.

The man stopped behind him and coughed a rather feminine cough. Naruto opened his eyes and turned around only to widen his eyes at the sight before him.

Sakura stood before Naruto with nothing to cover her naked figure. The towel she'd been given was draped over her shoulder and neck and her ample breasts popped out at Naruto. Naruto's eyes widened at the sight of his girlfriend and at the fact that he was getting to see her in this…just wonderful form.

Sakura moved forward into the water and sat down within an inch of Naruto's shoulder, before sighing contently and looking straight off. Naruto looked at Sakura's somewhat floating breasts and immediately looked forward in embarrassment. The two continued to stare off into space until Sakura spoke out.

"Hey…say something." Sakura nudged Naruto's shoulder to elicit something.

"What do you want me to say?" Naruto questioned. "You look amazing? Cause you do"

Sakura blushed, although it didn't show with the heat from the spring.

"That's a start." Sakura said simply.

Naruto smiled at the comment and wondered how this had happened.

"So…how'd you get the idea of doing this?"

"I just…wanted to surprise you, I guess. We rarely get to see each other, but I know you so well from all of the letters we send. I didn't know whether this would be a good idea or not, but I decided to test our relationship a bit. You're a hard person to surprise, you know?"

"With you Sakura-Chan, I'm always surprised at what antics you come up with, and this is more than usual."

"I'm glad that I can surprise you." Sakura said before moving over and straddling Naruto underneath the water as her breasts cleared the water again and hugged Naruto. After she had backed up and locked eyes with Naruto, the two started to kiss once again and kept it up for the next couple of hours, which to them seemed like only minutes as the sun dipped below the fence line.

* * *

(End Flashback)

"I can't believe that you did that Sakura, you're not usually that outgoing." Ino admitted as Sakura finally got off of her and helped her back onto the log.

"I know. I know. It's just that I…Wanted to, you know? Naruto makes me feel so happy in the letters, reading his adventures and how he thinks, and the time spent apart truly makes my heart grow fonder; I can be in front of him showing all my glory, and I'm not ashamed. He liked me before he loved my body and I feel like I'm the one to want to move faster. Aren't guys the ones who want that?"

"Not all guys, Sakura. I mean, come on. Look at Shikamaru and I. I've been giving him signals for years now, and I even became a Sasuke fan girl to get him jealous. At first, he didn't give me any attention, but now? Now, Sakura, he actually asked me to go cloud-gazing with him. He never wants to be around people when he does that. I feel so happy just like you are." Ino finished.

"Yeah, I heard about that from Chouji. He thinks that you guys are going out on secret dates and such."

"Well, I'll count them as such. I mean, come on. The fact that we're alone is enough for me. Plus, two heirs going out in public? I think we'll let Hinata and Kiba be the first to alleviate that pressure."

"Yeah, let Kiba yell it to all of Konoha."

"Oh! By the way, where did you get that headband?"

"Oh this?" Sakura asked as she lightly smoothed it out with the palm of her hand. "Naruto bought it for me the last day we spent together. He said that he thought that it suited me. He was caught off guard afterwards when he found out that my favorite color was red."

"What did he think it was?" Ino asked.

"Pink!" Sakura exploded with laughter and Ino joined in as the two girls held their sides to contain their muscles.

"Come on, Ino-Chan, Sakura. Time to head out and destroy some rogues." Shikamaru called out.

"Roger/Okay!"

* * *

The three of them continued forward on their way to the clearing where the rogues were said to be. After around another hour or so, they neared the area and Shikamaru told them to spread out into a straight line formation.

They finally approached the south side of the clearing and peered out into the space beyond. The clearing itself was about fifty yards across and forty yards in diameter. Inside the circle however, was nothing but some low growth grass.

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes in concentration. He knew that they had not veered off course and that this was in fact the clearing that the thugs were supposed to be in. Had they picked up their camp and left? No, the mission had come in this morning and their camp would have taken at least two hours to take action.

A movement caught Shikamaru's eyes and he took a glance to his right and saw Sakura picking herself up and start to walk out of the clearing. He quickly looked at Ino and told her to wait. Protocol dictated that one team member checked the area to allow for the team to deem it safe.

Shikamaru and Ino watched as Sakura walked out into the clearing and looked around the area in mock appreciation. Sakura herself walked around the middle of the clearing and saw the tell-tale signs of a camp but they were faded and long ago gone.

Sakura thought with certainty that the camp had indeed been gone long ago before spotting a simple piece of paper lying on the ground with strange symbols on it. Sakura signaled her team to come out before bending down to get a better look at it.

Suddenly, a symbol on the paper turned red and a line started to spread around the paper to the other symbols. The lines continued off the paper and onto more paper tags that Sakura had failed to see before now as they were camouflaged into a giant circle around her. Sakura widened her eyes before looking back to her teammates.

"Get Down!"

Sakura watched her friends drop down, still outside the clearing, before looking back down at the symbols. Her eyes widened as the red lines had encircled her for twenty feet around her. Suddenly, the paper and the ground around her lifted up!

Shikamaru widened his eyes as the ground tilted towards Sakura and started flashing rapidly. He knew what these paper seals were. They were explosive seals and more deadly than the traditional ones of Konoha.

"SAKU-"

Shikamaku and Ino could only watch as Sakura looked towards them in slow motion and smiled sadly before an inferno of fire blasted her and the area around her to blazed charcoal.

* * *

_**(Singing Happily) Cliff-Hanger hanging from a cliff! And that's why he's called cliff hanger! Ya!**_


	9. Come back For Me

**Hey y'all! so...nine reviews?! Simply amazing. First off, as always.**

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**DizzGirlJess: Just thought that my readers would enjoy that part for fun and glad you are enjoying this.**

**Tony Blu: Yes...yes I did. Glad that you liked my background information and how I am progressing my story. P.S. Read a little farther down for another comment.**

**Sortofbored: Glad you liked it. Quick and painless, right? ;)**

**Logan Locke: Glad to here I helped and so true that no force in the Naruto-verse will stop him. Go aggressive women!**

**Keeper of Worlds: The trap design itself took a day to come up with that. Really was simple when I finally got the idea.**

**Sanbi: If I did that, then I might loose some reviewers right away :) But probably not a lot**

**Zerotails317: You are about to find out.**

**Olivi4nlife: Same as Tails above. Time for you to read on**

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**AN: As for the reviewers; Tony Blu, Guest, and I'm guessing a lot of readers, you all want longer chapters. Well, that's not going to happen anytime soon. I am not good at describing things for a long time, and the sorroundings as they pass numerous villages along the way. Sorry, but the last chaper was 3 thousand words long and most will stay with 2-3 thousand at the speed of my story.**

**Glad to have so many of you guys reading X reviewing and I hope that you have all your tears ducts ready to cry. Because here comes the sadness and we all know what that means...What you're still reading my notes? read for yourslefs.**

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**Sorakage**

**Arc 2: Chapter nine: **

**Come back for me**

The fire continued to blaze in front of Shikamaru and Ino for around thirty seconds, and during that time, Shikamaru could do nothing but hold Ino close to his chest as she cried into him deeply. After the fire dissipated, the two ninja ran out towards the body that was Sakura.

Shikamaru reached down, his knees hitting the dirt and picked up Sakura's body and placed two fingers on her throat felt for a pulse and was both surprised and relieved to find one. Her body appeared to be scarred and burned where her clothes did not cover. Shikamaru saw with relief that Sakura's face and hair were safe; it seemed like she had used chakra to encase her neck up in water and saved her brain and upper body functions.

What shocked Shikamaru was that her upper torso looked completely fine, where her jacket was concerned. Shikamaru opened it up with a kunai to see the inside red hot as orange red colors seeped past the black cloth like hot metal and wondered who had patented such useful ninja armor, and how Sakura had come across it.

No sooner had he finished his inspection than the area around them turned into a hurricane of kunai and shurikan. Shikamaru turned to Ino and saw that she was preparing a jutsu to defend them from the onslaught.

"Earth Jutsu: Earth Wall!"

The ground around them turned upwards and rose up four feet all around them. All around them, the sound clanked and clonked as the shurikan protruded into the earth and the kunai bounced harmlessly off them.

No sooner had the attack ended than had Shikamaru jumped up into the air and spread his shadow far away and deep into the woods around the clearing. After three seconds, he had caught all the attackers that were present.

Their information had been wrong; there were not fifteen rogues dying off. No, there were at least fifty. Shikamaru knew that he couldn't hold them off for long. They had perhaps a minute max and if they did not run at top speed, he doubted that they could successfully get away.

A cough averted his eyes to a soon waking up Sakura from her obvious concussion. Ino shushed her before giving her a swig from her canteen. Sakura tried to drink but sputtered out some blood and Shikamaru saw a cut along her neck as a small trail of blood flowed out. Sakura sputtered more and coughed before she tried to speak.

"Are…are you guys okay?" Sakura wheezed.

"Yeah, we're cornered right now though." Ino admitted.

"How many?"

"I would say that about fifty ninja surrounding us, we need maybe forty five seconds to get a head start." Shikamaru told her as he held his hands together.

"You won't get away with me on your back, guys. Sakura whispered as she read the situation.

"What are you saying, Sakura?" Ino asked quickly concerned for what she knew needed to be done

"Le-leave me."

"No!"

"Shikamaru…you know I'm right. Please, take her away. You know that I'm right." Sakura repeated, maybe telling them for the first time in her ever fuzzy mind.

"I know; Ino come on."

"No, Shikamaru!" Ino shouted before he grabbed her waist and dragged her away from Sakura and up to the top of the earth wall.

"We'll come back for you, Sakura." Shikamaru said before he and Ino ran full pace away from the clearing.

"I know you will." Sakura whispered back before she succumbed to the fatigue and the ringing in her head.

The jutsu lifted and the rogues moved quickly into the clearing. They could still hear the retreating sound of two ninja, but knew that they had too much of a head start to catch them before they reached Konoha. Instead they approached the above ground crater in the center of the clearing.

They saw a girl of obvious beauty covered in dirt and burns along her arms and legs as well as a small cut along her throat. Her skirt was burned and her boots were ripped in places due to heated pressure from the tags. They saw the tattered sign of a medical symbol on her shoulder and smiled.

"Hey boss, we got lucky. She's a medical ninja." One of the ninja from the top of the crater shouted back to a rather tall man in complete green fatigues that matched that of a normal Konoha shinobi. He wouldn't stand out unless his attire wasn't ripped in so many places and his headband of the leaf wasn't scratched in three straight lines.

The man walked forward with a blue sword in hand and up the crater till he came to the unconscious girl. He slowly bent down before picking her up by her hair and began to drag her. The pain of the pull caused a spasm to cycle through her system and woke the girl.

The girl opened her eyes and screamed in pain and tried desperately to get the man to release her hair. The man refused until he got her next to the forest and unceremoniously threw her at a tree, eliciting a painful scream from the girl. The commander tied the girl's hands, knees, elbows, and legs together before applying a bag over her head and nodded to his legion of fifty before they jumped into the trees and disappeared into the forest beyond.

A single piece of clothing and an envelope remained in the crater. The jacket that Naruto had given her and the next letter that she had been ready to send her beloved Naruto in response to his upcoming request.

* * *

Land of the Wasteland (A Few Days Later)

A man in black fatigues stood in a relaxed military fashion, overlooking his city that he and his friends had created over the years. Streaks of red dye slid down from his shoulders down to his wrists and back along the inside of the cloth down to the inside of his combat boots.

A cloak was attached to his back and it changed in the sunlight from the differing angles. It was red, and then blue, until it settled on black, the exact color of the man's cloth that he wore. The cloak was special and only the village below had the knowledge to make them and the man was proud that they had manufactured it so well and so fast. But, they still had a lot of work to do.

A knock alerted the man and he turned sharply, his cloak snapping in the brief wind. Two figures entered the room and stood at attention for a second before an invisible signal was given and the two relaxed.

One figure wore complete black with lighter versions of black acting as seams down his trench coat that acted as a cloak. He had dark black hair and his eyes had a fierce appearance, but at this time had a happy inside feel to it. The man was pale, with a black sword slung on his back with a bright crystal made sword intersecting it in its own sheath.(just crystal, not like in SOA, where it looks heavy and bulky)

The other figure was that of a woman who wore the red streaks over a white getup similar to that of a knight of the blood oath. Her shoulder straps were on her arms, and her arm sleeves were detached but still on her arms nonetheless. She wore white combat fatigues and she had applied a jutsu to keep her cloth clean and pure white. She held a happy smile, as her light brown-red hair stayed behind her in a wavy fashion. She too was pale, but her sword was like that of a rapier and was white in color and was slung on her waistline.

"Naruto, the equipment is all ready and we can move out at any time." The female stated.

"Thank you, Asuna. How is the making of the cloaks going along?"

"Well, we have two thousand at the moment; that's enough for the ninja of the village. But we still need eight thousand more if we expect to have more ninja, which I am happy to note that we've recruited twenty more ninja the other day." Asuna finished.

"That's good to hear." Naruto stated. If we continue to train them and get that amount every day like we have been, we'll be ready to face them by the end of the year."

"Well, I-" (Screech) Asuna shrieked as a tail brushed against her bare legs. They turned to see Naruto's fox Kyubii there with a smile on his fox face.

"Kyubii! Don't do that; you know how I freak every time." The Kyubii laughed in a fox like manner. "Ugh! You're so irritating!"

"How is Kyubii's chakra doing?"

"He still has plenty to spare."

"Good, so anyways, you said that the production was in order? Good, then we'll move out to Konoha to give them the treaty."

"Naruto, I know that gaining map information and trade agreements is good and proper, but do we really need it? I mean, the soldiers and ninja we bring in have plenty of information on their respective areas."

"While that may be, this is to be an espionage mission to find out what the nations have and a mission to get them to recognize us as who we are."

"Of course; Forgive me for I spoke out of turn." Kirito pleaded.

"No need." Naruto replied curtly. "You know that I respect others' decisions. Now, let's go. It's time to get to Konoha."

"Ha!" Asuna scoffed with a chip tone in her voice. "You just want to see your girlfriend already."

"Yeah." Naruto calmly stated. "What if I do?"

"Does that mean that I get to meet her?" Asuna asked with hope in her eyes.

"I suppose it does, after all, you had to stay back during the mission to Wave after you had sprained your ankle. But I'll have you know that if you take away our time together Asuna, I'll make you regret it."

"Don't worry, Asuna-Chan," Kirito brushed off, "they'll be sucking each other's faces off the entire time we're in Konoha."

Naruto walked past them while the two cracked up before they left in the direction of Konoha. As they left, Naruto remembered his last letter he had sent to Sakura, and the last part that he had written down to her.

_I'm coming to see you, Sakura-Chan,_

_Maybe we can do what you've been wanting the entire time?_

_Oh well, tell me soon, I hope that you'll be waiting at the gate for when I arrive._

_Your Love,_

_Naruto._

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A couple days earlier however, in Konoha, Tsunade sat down at her desk, a glass of sake in her hand. She had just received a report from Naruto, the boy that her predecessors and the current Hokage had banished for really no reason at all, that his village wanted to trade map information.

Normally, Konoha would have no need of this and the request would be turned down immediately as soon as the delegation arrived. But this was different. This was the wasteland that they were talking about.

It was a place that most ninja who had entered had failed to return back alive from. If a village, that of a small ninja village was able to survive there, then maybe they could work out some great agreements.

For one thing, where was their village located? Tsunade doubted that they would acquire this information however. This was a ninja village and though most hidden villages were now known to all from previous wars, the new villages that popped up here and there kept to themselves and their own land.

Tsunade wondered though, how many ninja did Naruto's supposed village have? Surely they could have no more than a thousand? The wasteland was built for solitude and only the most hardened survived. But then again, the potential that Naruto had shown when he had saved Kakashi's team and her ever young apprentice in Wave was astounding.

What would happen if all of those thousand possible ninja were as skilled as Naruto seemed to be? Tsunade shivered as that would be a village to be reckoned with.

Maybe she could convince Danzo and the council to offer Naruto's village the offer to become an ally? Surely another village to protect each other would be highly beneficial to both parties. Although, with a new village, an attack out of revenge was highly unlikely from the smaller nation, so they wouldn't care much for that.

Maybe she could then convince Naruto or his partner the swordsman to teach more kenjutsu to Konoha's shinobi. They had lost the art of that long ago and while their Anbu had short swords, a real training program at a younger age and a longer sword could potentially do wonders for close combat.

A knock on the door alerted Tsunade and she shouted for them to come in. Shizune entered the room along with two exhausted ninja who Tsunade knew were Ino and Shikamaru who had just come out of the examination rooms. She had been informed that Danzo had given them a three day mission to destroy the remains of a dying rouge faction. They couldn't have finished so fast, could they?

"How did the mission go?"

The two ninja kept their eyes faced down and kept their mouths shut. Tsunade looked over them and then a question hit her at a hundred miles an hour.

"Where is Sakura?"

The two cringed as their medical officer had hit the nail on the nose. Shikamaru looked and sighed.

"We were set up, Tsunade-Sama. There was no Dying faction. They were very well alive. We believe that they wanted to grab a medical ninja, and sadly we gave them the opportunity. Sakura was captured in the attack, but in her capture, she allowed for Ino and myself to escape."

Shikamaru moved on to describe the events that had occurred as Ino added in her own two cents but after a while, all there was left was the promise that they had made to Sakura.

"Tsunade-Sama," Ino began, "we promised Sakura that we would be back for her. We can't leave her in the hands of those monsters. Please talk to the Hokage to allow us to save her."

"I know that, Ino. Unfortunately, your chakra reserves have obviously been used up during your escape and you have a slow reserve of chakra. Shikamaru, you might be able to go in with another ninja of a high caliber."

"Who may I choose from?"

"I am afraid that you have only Kakashi and Sasuke are cleared for active service at the moment to bring along with you."

"They are a great team Tsunade-Sama, but there were around a hundred enemy ninja and rogues there. We had to pass an outer ring of rogues after we escaped."

"I know…" Tsunade thought for a bit before an idea popped into her head.

"Ino, how well did Naruto-san learn to know Sakura while he was still here?"

"Naruto?" Ino asked surprised at the question. She couldn't tell them about him and Sakura. She had promised Sakura that she wouldn't. It was supposed to be a secret. "They became good friends as far as I could tell."

"Good. Naruto and his team from the wasteland are due at outpost 27 in three days on a diplomatic mission. Shikamaru, you will take Sasuke and Kakashi to outpost 27 and await them there. You can give them the details of the mission and then ask for their assistance in this manner. If it helps, tell them that they can have what they are asking in exchange for the help. I'm sure Danzo would prefer that anyways."

Shikamaru nodded before he turned and exited to find his team. Ino turned back and offered a piece of advice.

"If it helps Tsunade-Sama, Sakura told me that Naruto would do anything for a friend."

"That does help to relieve my worry, Ino. It means that Sakura will be in good hands."

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**How did you guys like the twists? A new arc as I proposed to you guys. How did I do on the appearance of Naruto, his friends, and most importantly, his village? R X R!**


	10. The Box

**DiizGirlJess: Don't know how Naruto will react? Well you'll see. And for Sakura...well where is the fun in that?**

**Logan Locke: Yes; they'll get it big time. Glad to how that that portion with Tsunade was influential to you in parts. As for the reviews, I know that my past stories have stopped around 20 chapters...not this one at all. I am striving to make a masterpiece for you guys, so I'm hoping for three-hundred reviews nearing the end.**

**ZeroTails317: Glad that I can surprise you :) and don't worry, the village will have a better description later on in the story.**

**The Keeper of Worlds: Had to start somehow, am I right?**

**Guest: You are someone who flatters me so, and I am thankful for that. I will continue on as you have asked.**

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**Hey you guys! It's Timberwolfe here and I am ready to thank you for reading again. On a little AN of my feelings, feeling kind of down when I got only five reviews. I mean, it's a great number; I've just grown acustomed to seven since that's my lowest before now. Hoping this chapter has reviews like crazy to make up for it.**

**Anywho! Are you ready, boys and girls of all ages! (Mature for your age if you are reading an M rated story) because here is where our story continues... **

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**Sorakage**

**Arc 2**

**Chapter 10: The Box**

Sakura groaned slightly before opening her eyes and looking around her. She realized that she was in a tent, and a rather small one at that, meant for supplies rather than people. Sakura tried to move when she realized that her arms were behind her.

She dragged them forward but they stopped, inches apart from the other as a metal chain separated them by wrapping around the tent's center pole and thereby keeping Sakura in her place. Sakura tried to use her chakra, but she watched from the angle of her shoulders as the trail of chakra formed near her hands and then seeped into some leather straps around her wrists. She was literally trapped and literally reduced to civilian status.

After a couple minutes of waiting, the flap to the tent was thrown back and a man entered and quickly untied her arms from behind the pole. Sakura was tempted to make a run for it, but she knew that she wouldn't get far. The burns on her skin were located worst on her wrists and ankles. It just so happened that that was also where the leather straps were on her body. Without chakra and injured like this, she could do nothing but to comply with whatever it was that they asked.

The man brought her out of the tent and Sakura looked around to see many tents more around her own. If indeed anyone was sent to save her, they would truly have a hard time finding her.

Sakura moved forward down the rows of tents until she reached a campfire with logs surrounding it in front of a bigger tent that Sakura assumed must be the command tent. It was now the morning after, so the fire was not lit, but the man behind her pushed her over the log and then pressed down on her shoulders to make her sit.

As soon as she sat down, the flap to the command tent opened and a large man entered into Sakura's vision. She had seen this man right before she had passed out, but knew that he was one to be wary of. He now had two hilts appearing behind his frame and Sakura surmised that he was great at using them if this man indeed led the Northern Rogues.

The man stopped directly in front of Sakura and squatted down to look at her face. Sakura hid behind her bangs but the man grabbed her chin roughly with his hand and forced her to look at him. What he saw was determination in her eyes and he smiled. He also saw a fire scar running down her cheek from her eye to below her neck as it intersected with the cut along the girl's throat. The man traced his finger along the scar and he felt the girl flinched and cower.

"Now girl, I have a proposition for you." The man began. Sakura knew that she shouldn't but she had to know.

"And that is?" She asked, her voice cracking near the end. Sakura wasn't completely herself at the moment. Just really, really scared.

"So…young you are." The man stated as he combed his fingers through her hair. Sakura whimpered quietly as the commander looked at her lustfully. "How old are you?"

"F-Fourteen, sir."

"So polite. It would do you well to remember that. If you don't do what we tell you…maybe you'll become less than innocent." The man said as his hand trailed down to rub against her inner thighs and Sakura saw a few lustful looks on the men's faces as more rouges started to gather around her.

"Now, you are a medic, correct?"

"Y-yes? I only began recently though." Sakura quickly covered up, trying to sound small.

"Nonsense, you have the symbol, meaning that you can work in the field, even more so in a camp as well stocked as mine."

Sakura gulped. They were going to force her to help them attack Konoha by healing them. But if she didn't, she wouldn't be pure anymore and wouldn't survive long into the nights…There was no question about the decision.

"What shall you have me do?"

The man smirked. "That's a good girl. I suppose that someone as beautiful as you wants to save that purity for your boyfriend, but no matter. You'll heal the men of the first company today. Some have scratches, others?" The commander smiled, "You'll have to dig a bit."

Sakura paled at the word 'dig'. It was a fear of hers to go inside people. Even though she was a ninja and a medic even more, it always freaked her out. But Sakura nodded nonetheless.

"Good girl. Now, let us begin." And with that, her first illegal patient of the day walked up with a kunai lodged in his spleen. Sakura gulped as she knew that this would be a long and tiring day.

* * *

(Sunset)

Sakura breathed heavily as she used the last of her dwindling supply of chakra to seal the cut on the forehead of the rouge before her. After she had sealed it, the man stood up and Sakura's glowing hands flickered on and off until finally, it shimmered out of sight.

Sakura tried to make it come out again, but after the fifth failed attempt, she gave up. Sakura literally had no more chakra left and she breathed deeply as sweat graced her forehead and forearms. She turned to the right and placed her arms together and outward towards the man who had brought her here.

During her healing, the men had taken off her restraints on her wrists after noticing how much she moved and crossed her hands and arms. They did this only after tying her waist and legs to opposite sides of the campfire site before unfastening the leather straps.

The guard quickly retied the straps around her arms before looping the laces together and forcing her arms and waist to connect and become rigid as they would stay like that for the long night. He untied her other restraints and then took her inside the command tent before telling her to kneel and keep her head down.

The man stood behind her in a rigid military stance as the commander appeared once again and sat down before Sakura.

"So, how many were you able to heal?" The enemy commander asked.

"I…I don't know. I wasn't counting." Sakura whispered in nervousness, worried and waiting for something bad to occur to her.

"Shuku, how many?"

"The whole company, sir. Plus five from the second company as well."

"Really?" He looked down at Sakura. "Such a young beauty treating no less than thirty men with mostly deadly or serious injuries. You're a talented little ninja aren't you?"

"I guess so, sir." Sakura said meekly.

"No need to be so modest. By the way, what's your name?"

Sakura gulped down her fear before speaking. "Sakura Haruno."

The man's eyes widened with glee. "Haruno, you say? I knew a Yuki Haruno in the Leaf. Any relation?"

"She is my mother, sir."

"Oh! Excellent. Your mother was indeed a talented girl. But she gave herself up for another man. Such a shame. I would have preferred a daughter with my black hair."

"My mother would never cheat on my father!" Sakura glared back and into his eyes. The man smiled darkly as he got the reaction he wanted.

"You dare speak up against me?"

Sakura's eyes widened in fear. The commander walked over and knelled before her, his hands starting to touch her all over from her small neck to her breasts and down her stomach to the clothed entrance down below eliciting a moan and a multitude of shaking limbs from Sakura as she tried to remain passive. No one should be touching her like this _Except Naruto!_

"Every medic we bring in does that for your information. We'll just have to teach you a lesson now, won't we? The commander asked sarcastically before strolling past Sakura. Sakura breathed out in relief but suddenly screaming out as pain raced up to her head as the commander grabbed her by the hair again and started to drag her out of the command tent and across the camp.

After a couple minutes of pulling and screaming at the top of Sakura's lungs, the commander dropped Sakura next to a grave. Sakura quickly bended herself upright and looked around before seeing a rectangle in the ground with two shovels and a pile of dirt on the side. After seeing the grave, she pleaded.

"Please!" Sakura begged. "Don't kill me!" She said as tears streamed down her face.

"My dear girl, we're not going to kill you…not yet at least. You're much better than the previous medical ninjas we've had. But you spoke out of turn, so you will not be going back to your tent, but here instead."

"W-w-what do you mean?"

"Why, in this…sweetheart." The commander said as he bent down and pulled out a coffin. The commander pulled the top up and Sakura saw the claw marks on the inside of the top of the coffin and knew that he planned to place her in it.

Sakura had never admitted it, but she was claustrophobic when in a tight and dark place, and that coffin definitely counted as one!

"NO! PLEASE!" Sakura pleaded and screamed as the men grabbed her arms and legs and slowly pushed her inside the coffin. Sakura kept moving around as she tried to keep her head out of the box of mental torture until the men closed the lid on top of her head, closing off most of the remaining light.

Sakura tried scratching the wood, but it was all in vain. Coffins weren't meant to be escaped from, but these rouges had obviously added chakra into the wood. She cried as she tried to curl herself into a tight ball even as her knees hit the edge of the box, preventing even that.

"Now Sakura," the commander's voice wavered through the wood, "we'll take you out tomorrow and we expect you to be better behaved and more…accepting of the men's hands so to speak. Have a great and peaceful rest."

With that, Sakura felt the box being moved off the ground and she screamed out as they placed her in the grave and started to seal her inside as they buried her alive!

As the last of the light faded from her vision, Sakura stopped yelling to conserve her air supply. She saw a hole in the top and she assumed that was her air, but she dared not waste any. Sakura curled tighter and finally managed to turn into a ball.

Tears leaked down Sakura's face as she tried to think of wide open spaces and the sun above her, but none of it helped. Sakura cried for what seemed like hours before she fell asleep from crying her eyes out.

"Commander, how long do you think she'll last?"

"Longer than most. The other medics were all grown women, twenty five or so. This GIRL can be molded to believe that she deserves these punishments as rewards. We'll make this work. Also, healing our men gives us more room to grow, and I intend to destroy the leaf, and what better way than with a Haruno in the picture?"

* * *

**I know it's not as long as you guys prefer, but I wanted a chapter dedicated to Sakura time that the previous events had been occurring. Tell me if you think that this is an accurate description for the audience, the emotions that you felt, what you were thinking as you found out the next scene. I truly want your input.**


	11. The Wait

**DiizGirlJess: It is truly a terrible condition for people to have, there won't be rape; notice how they are always trying, but they will always stop or fail to move on. This story will have no rapes as far as I have written so far, which is pretty far ahead.**

**ahmadaziz: Not meaning to use emotions. I'm trying to show how much Sakura goes trough for her love of Naruto and the general belief of others of a group mentality over the singularity. Realism is definitely not in all of Naruto, but I believe it is still a large portion of it outside of chakra related issues. Sadly, she won't get rescued this chapter, but the action will begin and end in next week's chapters. Yes, a two part rescue next week, so stay tuned.**

**I have to truly admit...your review scared me a bit, and there may be a near death scene next week, but she doesn't die, and I'm hoping you'll understand the situation. A little negative review that may change my story a bit...so be a little proud to have had the time to write that, but please not another one...I thought it would be a huge target at my story. Thanks though.**

**Tuatara: I'm sad to see you go, but if you can't see the concepts of how great things happen after bad events, then I'm sorry.**

**Logan Locke: I know...it was cruel to write this, but I'm glad you understand that the days are darker just before the brighter sun comes out and shines on the ground below. And I honestly don't know how many chapters I have going into this, but know that I won't be adding portions just for extra chapters. Everything I write means something in the concept of the story.**

**ZeroTails317: I'm starting to believe my chapters will always be too short for you, :), but you got that comment on Naruto spot on!**

**ShadowKing50: felt nothing? Not sure how to take that, but glad to know you're willing to look forward to the next scene.**

**keeper of Worlds: Cleave heads? I believe that I'll loose many viewers if I did that? Besides, Naruto would need a cleaver for that, and only Zabuza is awesome enough to have one.**

**Lonely Athena: Glad to have your interest in this last portion.**

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**AN: Hey guys...on the last chapter, I may have gone a little far for your perspectives and for that I am sorry. I hope that you will see that I am trying to bering in a seni-realistic perspective into this portion of the story, but I'll try to tame it down from now on. **

**In truth, I don't believe this is any worse than episodes that we all see on tv, for example; NCIS, CSI, Mentalist, Law & Order. If you don't have a TV, then many of the other stories on this sight include a Lot More detail in that department.**

**Enought of my rant though... Here we go**

**Sorakage Arc 2**

**Chapter 11: The Wait**

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Shikamaru landed inside outpost 27, followed quickly by Kakashi and Sasuke. They quickly set up their tents after explaining their situation to the commander of the outpost. As they settled in for the night, they stared at the fire and asked the questions that had been bugging them.

"So, how long until Naruto and his escorts arrive?" Sasuke asked.

"Two days max. They should be fast though if they wanted to negotiate with Konoha." Shikamaru thought out loud.

"So he'll arrive by tomorrow at midday, I would surmise." Sasuke stated. "Naruto was and if he is still alive just as fast as the last time I saw him."

"So, what do you think that Naruto's village wants anyways?" Sasuke spoke up again after a short silence.

"I'd guess that they want map information or gold. They can get anything they want really." Kakashi answered as a seasoned ninja.

"Why is that?" Sasuke asked.

"The wasteland itself is a barrier of death and despair if you don't know where you are going. To have a single map leading you through that and knowing the terrain is worth so much to the nations that have most and if not everything." Kakashi explained.

"If this trade does go through, we'll need to appoint an ambassador to go between these two villages. I'm already sure that the wasteland has made Naruto their messenger; the point lies in wait for our choice." Shikamaru stated before asking. "How well do you guys know Naruto?"

"You read the report on the wave mission?"

"Yeah."

"We knew Naruto for a couple hours…a day's worth at most. Now Sakura on the other hand, knows Naruto very well. He's saved her twice and she healed him up as well as gave him a tour of the city and some other time spent with him." Sasuke stated.

"So, if they wanted a trusted ambassador who got along well with Naruto, Sakura would be the best choice." Shikamaru surmised.

"Of course." Kakashi said clearly.

"Is that the only reason why the council believes we are saving her then?" Sasuke asked about his fellow council members back in the leaf.

"No, she is also the apprentice to the most well-known medic. Most medics don't even get the chance, and those that do wash out quickly. But Sakura survived the five months of training. That's why she could work in the field already, but only just. This was her first mission since her vacation period after her promotion."

"I see. So Sakura is a huge liability to the village at the moment and we need to rescue her for her potential assets in the near future."

"Essentially, but also because we don't leave a ninja behind."

"Yeah." Sasuke agreed. _Come on, Naruto. Get here and let's go save Sakura already._

* * *

The next day around noon, three ninja and a fox jumped through the trees on their way to the border of fire country. As they jumped, the girl of the group spoke out to the two boys.

"Naruto, why are we willingly giving away our map information? That's key to our village's future survival."

"Without knowing the changing entries and their times, they won't be able to successfully invade. We'll have that advantage in and of itself. I mean, come on Asuna, you, Kirito, and I all made it through and memorized that stuff."

"I know; I just don't see why we have to give it up. I think you just want an excuse to see your beloved 'Sakura-Chan', don't you?"

"I'll admit that it is the main reason on my part, but if our plan in an invasion is to succeed as we want to plan it, they'll need to believe that they can invade us in a certain case. Besides, you've changed the map enough that they'll look in the wrong areas for our village."

"It's the village hidden in the skies, Naruto." Kirito added. "No one can see it from a distance except at high noon and on the full moon. "

"That's why we placed it there, but it's the terrain that suits us."

"I don't know why we have to do Konoha first though." Asuna whined.

"Because you lost the bet, and the match."

"It's not fair! You have the Flash with your lightning and wind affinities!"

"And you have the ability to make the earth crackle with electricity. And Kirito has an unquenchable fire. We all have double affinities, Asuna."

"I know, but-"

"Asuna," Kirito interjected as he held onto her hand. Asuna sighed as happiness as Kirito caressed her hand in his, "Naruto's right. Drop it."

"Okay," Asuna sighed as she leaned into her boyfriend.

"See? This is why I need to see Sakura-Chan." Naruto sighed loudly and looked ahead "You guys can do that all day, but she and I can only do that when we see each other."

"Okay, well look there's the outpost. Let's go."

With that, the three ninja picked up their speed and soon arrived within sight of the outpost guards and the team that awaited them.

As soon as Naruto and his team came into view, the captain of the guard called for the men to form ranks as a precaution. The men quickly took their positions and prepared their defenses and jutsus.

"Halt!" Kakashi shouted as he, Sasuke, and Shikamaru arrived at the front of the lines. Upon seeing through a spyglass who it was, Sasuke nodded to Kakashi. "They are friendlies. Hold your fire!"

The captain nodded to his men and they lowered their jutsus, but not their arms and signs. It wasn't always a good thing when you were supposed to have friends in other countries.

As Naruto's team arrived, they slowed to a slow walking pace and approached the border between the wasteland and the land of fire. The difference in the landscape was huge, going from the forests of the Leaf to that of an open landscape of nothing. Upon seeing Kakashi and Sasuke standing just behind them, Naruto visibly smiled and walked faster than the rest of his team and greeted the team of his 'secret' girlfriend.

"Kakashi-San! Sasuke!" Naruto greeted them with brotherly handshakes, their hands connecting at the lower arms. "It's so great to see you! I had a feeling that the Hokage would send some familiar faces."

"Of course, but it was actually Tsunade-Sama. We wouldn't want to spook off potential allies." Sasuke smirked.

"Allies may be a strong word, more like friends." Kirito retorted in a wary voice as he and Asuna arrived next to Naruto.

"Ah! Allow me. Kakashi, Sasuke, um…ponytail-guy-"

"Shikamaru…"

"Thanks…oh Shikamaru! Good to see you again,…let me reintroduce Kirito, the Black cloaked Beater." The three nodded their heads in acknowledgement. "And this is Asuna, The Spark of the land, lightning flash, or sparky for short." Naruto laughed until he felt Asuna's sword hilt hit his head. "Or just Asuna."

"I am Sasuke, my teacher Kakashi of the Sharingan, and Shikamaru Nara of the Leaf." Sasuke said. He saw them flinch a bit when he said Shikamaru's last name. He supposed that they had heard of the Nara clan and their smart deductions. But Shikamaru had to add in his own two cents.

"A Beater, huh? That is from the land of water isn't it? And the Spark of Lands is a dead give-away of the land of earth? Am I right in deducing those places as your original villages?"

"Yes," Asuna admitted politely, "all ninja of our village were excommunicated from other villages for petty reasons; some harsher than others." She stated cryptically.

"Well played, Shikamaru," Naruto interrupted, "your skills at deduction are well versed in analysis. I'm sure your family and clan for that matter are very proud of you."

"They are." Shikamaru replied.

"Now…" Naruto interrupted. "I thought that Sakura of all people would want to greet me, is she on a mission or scouting the area or something?" Naruto asked as he looked around the group expectantly and above the Leaf ninja's heads waiting to see a head of pink.

He saw them cringe a bit and immediately knew that something bad must have happened to Sakura. He quickly moved forward with a threatening glare that demanded answers.

"What happened to Sakura-Chan?"

_Chan? Now why would a ninja who calls people his age by name add –Chan to Sakura's name? _Shikamaru wondered inside his head. He quickly put that thought to the back of his mind for now. He had bigger things to worry about at the moment.

"She was taken during a raid during an initial attack on what we thought was a dying rogue faction." Shikamaru stated.

"But they weren't, were they?" Naruto asked coldly as red started to shine in his eyes.

"No, it was a trap to capture a medical ninja of the leaf, and they captured Sakura. The Hokage is short on ninja of high caliber at the moment with other rogue factions, and Kakashi and Sasuke were the only team available for me to take. The Hokage asks now for your help in destroying the northern rogues and saving Sakura Haruno." Shikamaru stated as if he had memorized it from a scroll, which he probably had.

"If there anything else?" Kirito asked.

"If you agree to help, we will pass the map information over to you in exchange."

"No need. We'll help; won't we guys?" Naruto smirked as he looked back at his team and saw their confident smiles. Kakashi saw the confidence in their eyes, something that bordered to that of the most experienced of ninja, and mentally wondered what these young teenagers had done in their short lives.

"Great. We'll feast when we arrive back in Konoha." Shikamaru stated as he took charge and headed west to where the ambush had been, the other members of his team and Naruto's following just behind him. Six ninja versus a hundred? If the rumors of Naruto and his village were true, then this would be a true bloodbath, one way or another.

* * *

After an hour of jumping through trees, the two teams of ninja arrived at the sight of the ambush. Immediately, Shikamaru led Naruto over to the crater while the rest of the group scouted over their surrounding for clues…and potential ambushers.

As they reached the top, Naruto looked down and immediately saw the jacket that he had given Sakura on the bridge almost one year ago. He pushed past Shikamaru and reached for the jacket before holding it in his hands delicately as if in a past trance. Shikamaru eyed Naruto carefully before making his way down.

Ninja did not push past other ninja unless their emotions were broken, but how could Naruto's emotion go haywire over a jacket that Sakura had worn? The plot just kept getting more and more twisted in Shikamaru's mind.

Naruto tried to grip the jacket like it was on a person, like it was on Sakura the last time he'd seen her before they had parted their ways to go back to their respected villages. She had been so delicate back then, but so warm and loving. A single tear escaped Naruto's right eye and trailed down his face. Shikamaru saw this and finally put everything together as he finally knew the answer.

"You like her, don't you?" He assumed.

"I do," Naruto replied solemnly. "She doesn't look at me like the rest of your village does. She has a heart that is pure. And For her to be Captured like THIS," Naruto said as his voice began to rise and his breaths became shorter.

"I know, Naruto. Believe me when I say that I understand what you must be feeling, but right now we must find where the rogues took her."

Naruto breathed in and turned his head to the side. Upon doing so, he saw a whitened piece of parchment that Naruto had given her last time they had met as a color for their letters. He reached out and quickly unfolded it before reading it.

Shikamaru watched as Naruto snorted and suppressed a laugh and a smile now adorned his face. Naruto quickly walked back up the crater before passing Shikamaru, the jacket over his shoulder and the letter in his hand.

"Naruto, may I see the letter?"

Naruto simply handed it over before walking off to call the others back to him. Shikamaru unfolded it again and read it.

_Dear Naruto-Kun,_

_I can't wait to see you again! Already, my heart aches for your presence._

_I now know what you meant by me hurting your heart when we part from each other._

_I believe that this has turned into that of a true love story between you and me._

_As per your request, I'll meet you at the gates and who knows? _

_Maybe I'll be able to escort you to the village,_

_And we can 'chat' and 'study' some biology, huh?_

_I can't wait to see you again. I just want to cuddle into your warm embrace once again._

_I wear your gift with pride and will see you soon._

_Always and Forever Yours,_

_Sakura-Chan_

Shikamaru folded up the letter and walked back to the group; a sad smile on his face. He walked over and tapped Naruto on the shoulder to gain his attention. As Naruto turned around with a smile, Shikamaru handed it back and spoke.

"You know that it probably won't end well between the two of you. Right?"

"Yeah. I know that ninja from opposing villages can't get married without permission from the Kages of their villages, but then again, I'm from a smaller village. Less importance to keep secrets, but you have not heard of my village yet, so I believe that we hold secrets well indeed."

"Good luck explaining that to the Hokage. He holds the power for marriages between villages now."

"Really? That's a shame. Times have grown worse since I lived there."

"I was told by Sasuke that you were born in Konoha, and about your banishment because of the demon fox."

"Kyubii? You might just get to meet him, but not now. I have a better idea in mind." Naruto finished as the teams assembled around him and Shikamaru. As soon as everyone was there, Naruto started to do one handed seals in each of his hands but they were both the same symbols. As he finished, he shouted out the name.

"Kuchiyose No Jutsu!"

Two clouds of smoke appeared on opposite sides of Naruto. As the wind swept the smoke away, the team of the Leaf widened their eyes as a trio of 'Akamaru' sixed foxes appeared on Naruto's left and widened further when a pack of seven wolves appeared to Naruto's right.

"The Wolf and Fox Contact?" They all heard Kakashi whisper.

"Yes, I found where they were hidden, and the Kyubii showed me where, but that's not the point. Shikamaru, my two packs can scout ahead and tell us how many men they have, the general shape, and where the men are placed."

"Good. Then let them have Sakura's scent and let's begin."

Everyone nodded and watched as a fox and one of the wolves each sniffed Sakura's jacket before howling and charging into the underbrush; leading southwest into the jungle, quickly followed by the combined teams of Shikamaru and Naruto.

_We're coming Sakura-Chan, just hold out a little longer._

* * *

**Next Week: The Hunt Parts 1 & 2. R X R!**


	12. The Hunt Part 1

**The Keeper of Worlds: You may or may not actually see naruto's abilities. i haven't decided on adding in a part for that scene or just letting it play out. Read and tell me again, and I may add one. But...no, ash is not Naruto's style.**

**Lonely Athena: I'm glad you liked the letters. It took a while to write them with enough mystery in them and to keep them from being too sappy.**

**Logan Locke: Maybe there will be explosions? Though not all is as it seems...mwawawwaa!**** As for your defense of my comment and story, I really want to cry with gratitude. You don't know how much that means to me, but I am honored to have you as a reviewer.**

**ZeroTails317: Normal wolves, yes. Remember that in the first chapter, a Kyuubii has nine tails, but eight are made of chakra! The demon foxes vary in strenth and only have an average of two to three tails following the actual tail. To keep it more on par with the summons of the other ninja. Remember that the wolf and fox Duel summoning contract is why it is coveted so much. two summons.**

**DiizgirlJess: Thank you for the much needed support. That's part of the reason why I didn't mind writing it for the chapter. Some writers include the actual scenes, and that's terrifying! Just wait for the right moments**

**darkking694: thanks for the comment, and glad to have your attention of my story among thousands.**

**sseeaa2: you remembered the Pact? Awesome! :) and really, three hours? I feel so ecstatic to know that little piece of information. And you stole my one-liner for this chapter...so...sorry for the repetition on your part**

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**The hunt begins! Note that this chapter is a two parter, so is shorter due to where it cuts off. So please don't complain on this chapter's length. Saved it for the combined total of the scene.**

**Sorakage Arc 2**

**Chap 12: The Hunt-Part 1**

**_Due to reviewing; be warned...a little brutal, but Naruto is coming!_**

Sakura breathed in slowly and softly, trying to conserve every breath of air she had. She had already passed out the other day from a lack of oxygen and she was not going to allow it to happen again. Sakura had never been as ashamed as she was right now. She was a prisoner, but being fourteen was the age that her health classes had told her that most female ninja were raped at.

She had not been outside this coffin since she had healed the last of the commander's men, and that was three days ago. Well, three days, five hours, and fifty-nine minutes ago. It was the only thing that she could do. But even so, they only allowed her lower body out of the coffin to…relieve herself… and she still felt the scars that she'd been given by one of the guards as he'd tried to raped her lower half.

Maybe it was luck that there was another guard who simply pushed her lower half back inside before beating the guard up, or at least, that was what she'd heard. But right now, she had to relieve herself bad, really bad.

Ninja were supposed to control their bladder, but Sakura had been given no food whatsoever and that hole that they used for her air was also how she got her water. Although, to be honest with herself, she doubted that it was actually fresh water at all.

Still, they made her drink tons of it as soon as she relieved herself and then left her with a full bladder to hold. After three days, Sakura felt like she would die from internal damage, which by her pain in her pelvis and ribs, figured that she was.

Sakura felt the coffin being lifted up and sighed as sunlight entered the small crack of her coffin. Sakura blinked the light away as the lid opened and filled the entire box of wood. Sakura shivered and curled up as best as she could.

As she had continued to heal the men, they got rougher with her and her clothing. By doing so over the course of the days, her skirt was torn on the side leaving only a half inch to hold it together. They had also taken what had remained of her underwear long since giving her a reliving timeframe. If those last shreds of skirt fell, then she'd be ashamed, even though she was already. Her skirt had dried but it was still soaked and smelled of her relief from the other day.

Her pink mesh and blouse had fared no better. When she had arrived, it had been perfectly fine; now, her blouse was battered, dusty, and cut in so many places that Sakura dare not speak of it. The buttons in the center had been cut off, and Sakura's bra had been taken as well. Sakura was a girl who these…Rogues, bandits, thugs…wanted to rape and be done with it, and she knew that they would get to it soon. The question was when and how they would complete the task with her unwillingly. Though every day added on made her weaker and weaker as she allowed more and more to be done to her as she drifted more and more into her mind as her physical body died each passing second, as if she deserved what they gave her and should be content with it.

Sakura sniffled quietly as she entered the camp. She wondered what she would have to do for these monsters now. As she reached the command tent, she noticed that there were a lot more logs that had been set up around the campfire and that there were more than just the rogues there, but some other men from what she assumed were other rogue factions.

She was led to what she assumed was the head of the table for the commanding rogues and saw the commander sitting there with two other men that she assumed were commanders as well. The blue fitted commander stood up and walked to the middle of the campfire ring, before circling around her.

Sakura would hit him for looking at her with such lustful eyes, but they were still bound behind her back, as they had been for three days. And she just wanted to forget all this happened. She just felt so tired, and it showed in the blackness around her eyes. The commander brushed the back of his hand across her cheek and along her burned scar on her cheek. He held her jaw and squeezed it as he started to speak.

"This is a girl that I was talking about earlier." The green clad commander stated from the table. "An obvious prodigy in the medical arts, and a beautiful teenager who will grow to become an even more astounding woman. I'm sure that you can see the resemblance to Yuki Haruno."

"That I do." The commander with a gold fitted cloak said as he came over and inspected Sakura, touching her face, her chest to her own inward dismay, and finally noticed her lower region to which she wanted to slap the hands away, but dare not make it worse than it already was. "She is still a virgin?"

"Yes, just like her mother was all those years ago. She can be yours for what we agreed on earlier."

"You want our help in attacking Konoha in exchange for this medical beauty?"

"Yes."

"We'll take her, but I want to test her pain tolerance. See how much resistance she'll have in the future., and of course how much is needed to break her completely."

"Of course. She does have a very high tolerance to obeying me." The commander stated before signally to a few of his men. "Tie this bitch up to the trees."

"Yes sir!"

Sakura soon found herself staring at the commanders and their bodyguards as they held kunai in their hands. Her arms were retied to high branches where she could do nothing. She couldn't touch the ground, and when she did, only her tip toes felt the scratch of the gravel beneath her.

"Now, let us have some target practice."

Sakura's eyes widened as the men lifted their throwing arms.

There was a lot of screaming in pain a few seconds later.

* * *

In the trees, the team heard a scream of pain and knew that they were close to the enemy. Naruto and Shikamaru had already surveyed the layout of the camp and discussed their strategy and everyone knew their roles. They spent the next few minutes setting their plans into motion, the group continuously grabbing Naruto who could barely be able to stay focused on the task at hand. They all split off into their teams of two; Kakashi with Sasuke, Asuna with Kirito, and Shikamaru with Naruto.

Naruto's summons took the opposite side of the camp to start their distraction. Naruto and Shikamaru headed straight into the camp and dropped down into some trees and when they saw the sight before them, Shikamaru had to hold Naruto back from jumping to save Sakura from more pain.

Naruto grit his teeth as he prepared himself for a pure bloodbath, the likes of which these traitors had never seen and would not live through.

What Naruto had seen was Sakura, tied up in a spread out position. Along her arms were at least ten kunai lodged along her arms in quick succession to each other. More kunai were lodged inside Sakura's legs and a kunai or two had found their place in Sakura's left shoulder blade.

* * *

Sakura felt tears fall down her face and her voice was raw from screaming for the last few hours. The men had started by simply nicking at her skin and she knew that her neck had been slit once or twice. Her sides to her stomach were bleeding and from the feeling of her toes, the ground beneath her was pooling in her own blood.

Sakura could now say that she had then experienced the pain of kunai and swords being thrown and stabbed into her. The swords had pierced right through, but they were on their third round of kunai and Sakura felt herself growing dizzy from the obvious loss of blood and the traumatic events of the past hours.

Sakura felt her arms drop down and she saw her vision fall lower as she was dragged down and placed next to a tree and leaned her back against it. Her head spun and her vision grew fuzzier but she suddenly saw the blue clothed commander appear in front of her.

Suddenly, she felt her outfit rubbing against her and as she saw the clothing fly away from her, she screamed as she tried to lift her arms and legs to hide her modesty. Unfortunately, she soon found out that her nerves had been cut in the torture.

Sakura tried to speak but she felt blood enter her throat and as she spoke, blood spilled out the sides of her mouth. She was dying, and this man was going to take her womanhood before then. Her life was officially over.

Naruto could stand it no longer and whistled like a bird; the signal for the start of the mission.

End of Part 1

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**I know, really quick. But part 2 comes out Sunday with the actual fighting! So stay tuned. P.S. you have till just after four p.m. sunday to review so please get to it. :) Thank you and have a blessed night.**


	13. The Hunt Part 2

**Fellow Reviews;**

**ZeroTails317: 1: Kyuubii not a pet, more like companion and a summon. Remember how Naruto talks to the toads? they are equals though Naruto is the perspective in this story, not Kyuubii. And yes, large wolves, but no size difference from regular wolves except that they are summons and have chakra like all of the other summons.**

**Darkking694: I always get confused about keeping things straight in a single scene, so how could my readers do that as well? **

**Lonely Athena: yes, a rather dark time for the storyline indeed. And the way you wrote the review, Love? Sounds so cheesy and yet so formal...like a letter. Maybe a reference from my story? ;)**

**First Guest(Logan): explosions? well hopefully you'll enjoy this.**

**Logan Locke: Got to love your phone when it changes up your whole moment.**

**Logan Locke # 2: It's alright. You're extra reviews helped me to reach my review goal of seven. Maybe that phone of yours is cursed somehow to benefit me? (Big Cheshire Cat Smile)**

**Guest: Thanks for the encourage meant.**

**The Keeper of Worlds: Not like Amaterasu, but yeah, pretty much.**

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**AN: Here it is. the blood and guts...not that violent though...have your emotions swirling as you read on.**

**Sorakage- Arc 2**

**Chapter 13: ****The Hunt-****Part 2**

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The story continues-3rd person POV

The blue clothed commander pushed the remains of the girl's blouse away from her and, since her wrappings were torn and ripped in all manners, saw the supple breasts that waited for the touch of his hands. The commander smiled. He hadn't taken a girl's flower in front of his men in over two months, and he was desperatee to rip this girl apart, forget the medical abilities, she had natural beauty all over her. Well, in the eyes of human society, nature was ripped up and abused by the humans themselves. As he moved in to claim his gift, a shout sounded in the camp, an alert signal, and he quickly turned to the other commanders.

"What's going on?" The black clothed commander and the leader of the Northern Rogues demanded.

"There appears to be a pack of wolves attacking our ninja at the perimeter." His subordinate stated as he ran up and informed the leaders of the situation.

"Well? Send more men to help."

"Right away sir!" The rogue ninja shouted before he and his squadron of ninja scattered to help destroy this pack of pathetic wolves.

"Now, where were we?" The blue commander smiled lecherously as he leaned down to kiss the beautiful medical ninja before him.

A thud sounded and all the men turned to the noise and saw the commander's face turn into one of shock and pain before he collapsed on his side, dead, with a kunai lodged in his neck. A black clothed figure with blonde spikes withdrew it from the dead commander's spine, and looked at the rest of the rogues before him with deathly eyes and a red shroud that fell around his frame.

Immediately around the other portions of the camp, more kunai swarmed the entirety of the camp and the rogues charged at the seemingly invisible but slowly appearing enemy.

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A few minutes earlier, Sasuke and Kakashi were silently slitting throats left and right as they moved deeper within the enemy ranks. A whistle sounded and they knew that the main attack had begun. They moved behind some barrels as twenty five or so rogues passed them to the west of the camp.

_Those wolves and foxes will have a feast._ Sasuke thought as Kakashi simply nodded his head, recalling how Kyuubii had taken down Zabuza when they had first met Naruto. They had reached the southern sector of the camp and now their devastation would begin. In front of them surrounding a fire sat fifteen or so ninja who watched the flames and read up on some jutsus on scrolls that they'd stolen off a shinobi caravan earlier in the week.

Sasuke and Kakashi silently activated their chidori and moved with lightning speed towards the group. By the time the ninja rogues spotted and reacted to the attack, half of them were dead or dying.

Kakashi started going through hand signs as Sasuke unsheathed his katana and added lightning chakra, a move Kakashi had helped him to develop, to the sword.

Sasuke charged through the enemy and noticed that more were arriving to take them out. He activated his Sharingan and as the three enemy ninja in front of him moved their swords to attack him, Sasuke swung his sword in a wide arc. His lightning blade extended and broke through their swords, and Sasuke watched as a chain of lightning shot off and electrified the rest of the ninja rogues in and around the fire pit, their bodies convulsing and burned on the inside inside, almost as if ash was forming in their organs.

Kakashi meanwhile had turned around and shot off earth and fire jutsus at the arriving enemy, taking out at least one with every jutsu he used. As a couple got too close, Kakashi would skillfully take out a kunai and slash them across the chest before quickly signing more jutsus.

After a good thirty minutes or so, Sasuke and Kakashi walked among their dead enemies, breathing heavily. They had faced the company's commanders and they'd had a rough time handling them and their subordinates together, but though simple mistakes on the enemy's part, two members of team seven had prevailed.

They had kill around sixty ninja and now knew that there were more rogues here than the count suggested. They had seen three different colors, black, blue, and gold, for the rogues. That meant that there were three top dogs here as well.

Kakashi looked over himself and noticed the slash marks that had bit into his skin a little, but other than that he was perfectly fine. Sasuke looked a little worse for wear, a slash along his leg, another along his face but he would be able to fight again once he regained his breath.

They walked over to the northern section that Kirito and Asuna had been given, passing through the western side only to have seen separated limbs and bodies strewn around while a couple of the wolves played tug of war with one of the arms as a younger wolf, probably an adolescent of two years simply laid down and using its paws to hold it in place, gnawed on a lower leg.

Sasuke held back his bile that formed in his throat. He knew that wolves were one of the great summons, but they had proven that they were extremely deadly as he counted six of the seven wolves that had started out with them. It was safe to surmise that that wolf, the female of the pack, had simply returned to the summoning world to take care of its cubs, since there was no sad howling at the moment.

When they arrived on the main battlefield of Naruto's teammates, they were shocked. **Literally.**

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They had passed by a tent and upon seeing Naruto's squadmate Asuna had quickened their pace before their hands began to tremble and tingle as they got closer before the pain hurt bad enough for them to grunt in pain before doubling over onto their knees. Asuna heard the grunts and upon turning around and seeing them on the grass rushed over with Kirito right behind her and approached them.

"Here," Asuna said before grabbing their hands in hers and an electric current passed over their skin and they began to get movement back into their limbs. Kirito just smirked, kind of like Sasuke but with an actual smile worked into it, at the scene.

Sasuke fiddled with his arm as Kakashi spoke.

"How did you do that?"

"I don't like being touched, to put it simply." Asuna stated with a sad smile adorned on her face. "I always have an electric current around me like a magnetic field, it really started just when I was born. So I was shunned by my village. They always threw rocks at me and told me to go and live in the land of lightning. People in the Land of earth hate those with lightning affinities and one like me who has their treasured earth as well as their hatred took me with pure hatred. So I ran away when I was seven."

"Watch out!" Kirito exclaimed and thrust his arm outward towards Sasuke. Sasuke fell back and watched as blue fire raced out of Kirito's fingertips and across the field of his vision before disappearing passed him. He heard a crash of crates and turned to see a ninja who had been trying to sneak up on them with a single fire scorch mark through his gut.

"Thanks." Sasuke said plainly. "How is it blue? Shouldn't fire be red?"

"Usually, but I have an affinity for water as well, so my fire is blue. It's hotter too, and can't be put out so easily. I can increase the heat and it will go white, but blue is more to my liking."

"Got it. We should get over to Naruto's section now if we're all secure here." Kakashi suggested.

"Right. Since we're all here, I'll assume that the wolves are playing with the leftovers. Also, We need to make sure that Naruto didn't go too far." Asuna added in offhandedly.

"Like you didn't?" Sasuke asked as he looked at their own kills. Each one was killed with a slit to the throat; instant kill.

"Their nerves were beyond repair, and they didn't feel a thing; Unconscious too. Think of it more as a mercy killing." Asuna said as her eyes flared with electricity.

The team made their way over through the middle of the camp and saw a combination of all the fighting skills and styles of all of the two teams. As they reached the eastern sector, they found many ninja lying down as if they had fainted. On all their necks were slight black lines along the necks, telltale signs of broken and strangled necks on all of them.

"Shadow jutsus. The Nara is skilled," Kirito mumbled.

As they arrived at the scene where Naruto and Shikamaru were, Kakashi and Sasuke widened their eyes at the carnage before them. Forty ninja lay dead in a semi-circle around the tree where Sakura was currently located, protected by Shikamaru.

They widened their eyes further when they saw Naruto. Naruto's black attire was surrounded in a red cloak of chakra and they looked at the ground to see two of the three leaders of the enemy rogues on the ground dead.

Slowly, the red cloak faded and they saw the last commander, in black clothing, held in the air by his neck as he tried to breathe.

"What did you do to her?" They heard Naruto shout with a demonic sounding voice, full of worry, pain, and a protective shroud around it.

"W-we (gasp)…we didn't do anything too wrong. It was a (gasp) mistake (gasp)(gasp)"

"Yes, it was. And you have paid for it with your life."

With that, Naruto crunched the commander's neck in on itself, his fingers full of chakra as he crushed the man's windpipe in half. The now dead commander slumped forward on Naruto's arm before Naruto simply dropped him and ran over to Sakura on reflex.

Shikamaru left Sakura's side and joined his team as Kirito and Asuna walked off to kill off any leftover rogues. They heard a howl and saw the foxes signally out the dying survivors and cringed...There would be no survivors.

"Nice job, Shikamaru." Sasuke stated, "Got them all in one spot I see"

"That wasn't me." Shikamaru gulped defensively. "Naruto told me to kill the edge of the rogues. He killed all of them and the commanders. He…I don't what he is, but he has to be the strongest ninja I've ever seen." Shikamaru stated with his eyes wide as he remembered the carnage that Naruto had wrecked upon the rogues.

"Is Sakura safe?"

"Are you kidding me? She's traumatized with this experience, but she'll live most likely. Her outward bleeding has stopped for the most part, but it's all internal, but she's going into shock at this very moment. Naruto didn't let them get through to her though. A single kunai more and she'd be long gone from our world."

Meanwhile, Naruto had arrived back at Sakura's side and had moved her so that she was resting into his body and looking up at him.

Sakura's eyes grew less fuzzy and she saw the outlines and some definition of a black clothed figure with blonde hair and worried look on his face.

"Naruto-Kun." Sakura rasped happily.

"Sakura-Chan." Naruto sounded relieved. "Are you okay?"

"Mnn…I could be better, but you came for me."

"I'll always come for you."

"I knew you would; I'm so glad that you came for me though." (Cough). Sakura coughed suddenly and blood spurted out of her mouth and onto the ground before her, joining and mixing in with her blood from earlier.

"Sakura-Chan?"

"I-I'll be fine…Naru-to-Kun." Sakura said as her vision fazed in and out as she started to sway.

"I'll get you back to Konoha." Naruto stated rapidly as he tried to stand up. A hand pulled on his collar and as Naruto rushed off to Konoha with the two teams right behind him, he looked down to see Sakura smiling up at him.

"Did you g-get my letter?"

"I did. I found it."

"I love you, Naruto-Kun."

"Don't say that, Sakura-Chan. You won't die on me."

"I know, but I-" a shiver moved throughout Sakura's body. "Naruto-Kun, I'm cold."

"Here," Naruto said as he pulled Sakura's jacket out and quickly put it around her.

"You saved this for me?"

"Yes."

"Naruto-Kun? I'll love you…a-always." Sakura whispered before she fell asleep.

"Always and forever, Sakura-Chan."

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**AN: Hope you like this chapter, and how I showed off some moves while keeping Naruto's a pure secret. Almost at least. Also to Keeper of Worlds, i decided to add what you suggested as a small addition to the effects of a jutsu, so I thank you for that. **

**R X R! Howl!**


	14. The Scars

**Hey to all you guys, I got Friday off for president's day so now I can post in the morning, a.k.a...right now!**

**As for reviewers...well;**

**Guest: Thanks for the encouragement**

**The Keeper of Worlds: Glad to know that I made some good imagery for you. Question though, what is tech reveal? Not quite sure of that.**

**7th Demon of Razgriz: Busy? But we're all-well-I mean- oh well! you're here now, and that's all that matters**

**Zerotails317: glad to have your support and so here is the next part for you...hey? it's 'next time'!**

**Logan Locke: (Beep)(Beep)-Low Battery-Have to save Naruto's abilities till my story's dying breath right? As for your suggestions, all will be revealed. Ha, I am now an electronic magician.**

**DiizGirlJess: well...you could review anyways ;) I keep looking back at them for the encouragement that abounds in their words. If I was tru;y portraying the actual Sakura of Canon, she would have ripped the restrainsts off and kill them all herself with a groundbreaking earthquake.**

**AN: Most of us will never truly know what being hurt mentally and physically in extreme situations. We are lucky, but crimes happen every second of every day, and the best that we can do is to be there to stand up for them and help the injured through their hard times. This chapter describes this well.**

**Timberwolfe.**

**And A Happy Valentine's Day to all of you. If you have a girlfriend, sweep her of her feet. If you're a girl, let the guy make an idiot of himself for you. If no girlfriend, just relax and hope that next year you find that special someone who is just right for you. There's always one, and with 7 billion people on the planet, all of us have a lot to sort through ne?**

**Sorakage**

**Arc 2**

**Chap. 14: The Scars**

Tsunade paced back and forth in front of the gates as she waited with a team of medics for the team that she had sent out to retrieve Sakura. Danzo may be Hokage, but he delegated the 'lower' mission briefings to others like Tsunade. She had been waiting in her office when a fox had pawed at the door and had then given her a scroll before poofing out of existence.

Never mind how it got into the village, passed her guards, and into her office. Tsunade was wondering HOW IN THE WORLD SOMEONE RETRIEVED THE FOX SUMMONING CONTRACT!

Now, as she stood there by the northern gates of Konoha, she heard a whistle to signify that they saw a team heading their way. As soon as Tsunade saw her trio of ninja, she told the guards to open the gates and stand down. The team rushed in as fast as the gates allowed and soon Naruto, the carrier of Sakura's unconscious body, placed her in the hands of the ER medical squad before starting to follow them to the hospital.

"Namikaze-San, you cannot leave just yet," one of her Anbu stated rather rudely. Tsunade sighed, knowing that he was one of Danzo's specially trained men and would have been taught unknowing hatred for the boy.

Naruto stopped and turned his head slowly in a demonic fashion to look at the Anbu who had spoken to him.

"You can get your freaking details later," he said in a deep demonic voice, "I have Sakura Haruno-San to look out for at the moment!"

With that, Naruto continued on his way, following the cot that Sakura laid sprawled on, as the Anbu's hand shook lightly in fear. Tsunade moved forward to follow and signaled for the two teams to follow them to the hospital. She would personally heal and patch Sakura up and she would make sure that her newest and most promising apprentice lived through this ordeal.

HAND ME THE CLUTCH! WE NEED TO STOP THE BLOOD FROM LEAKING!

SCALPEL! KEEP THE FLOW STEADY! CLOSE THAT CUT ON HER NECK!

Naruto heard none of these yells of orders and commands as he continued to pace around the waiting area as if the life of Sakura was a major part of him. Sasuke wondered how well Naruto had gotten to know Sakura during his week staying in the village.

He knew that Sakura liked Naruto; that much was clear as day when Naruto had left the village. Sasuke had spotted Ino looking behind a balcony and he had decided to look at the parting farewell. When he saw Sakura pounce on Naruto all those months ago, he had been astounded that someone as smart as Sakura could fall in love so easily.

Sakura had since then taken her training seriously, serious enough to where she could control Sasuke's limbs when she used her chakra to hit him inside and out. It also hurt that she used Tsunade's infamous chakra infused punch in her technique. If it even touched a single hair, the limb would become useless, and you'd be dead before you knew it.

Sasuke had lost to Sakura a couple of times since and while his older self would have strived for more power, he was proud of his teammate for improving so much so fast. It had all started when Naruto had saved her life, so either Sakura did it because she had a life changing death experience or, the most likely, Naruto had inspired her to become great.

Ino had separated Shikamaru from the group earlier and had found out that he knew about Naruto and Sakura's love for each other. Ino had told Shikamaru everything and he had agreed to let it play out and to not tell anyone anything unless they already knew too much.

A nurse walked into the room, a clipboard in her hands. They watched her as she scanned the clipboard before finally looking up and noticed how many people were awaiting her.

"Friends of Sakura?"

"Yes," Naruto said immediately running over to the nurse. "Is she okay? How is she? Is she hurt? What room is she in? Did she make it? Tell ME ALREADLY!" Naruto exclaimed rapidly.

"Naruto, you need to calm down." Sasuke said as he placed a hand on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto visibly relaxed, but still held a tense composure.

"Sakura Haruno is fine," the nurse stated. Everyone watched as Naruto relaxed completely, he had been ready to blow at any moment. "She has a couple scars, and most we'll be able to take away. She will have to stay in the hospital for a week after she wakes up. We had to place her in a coma for the time being as she will be in too much pain. As for your question, she is in room 325. I can take you in to see her. The doctors are allowing you to stay overnight to take care of her." Before Naruto could ask, the nurse spoke on. "Your friends had a talk with them before the end of the operation."

Naruto looked to Shikamaru and Ino who smirked slightly and shooed him as he followed the nurse up the floors and to the door of Sakura's room.

"She's asleep inside. I would advise that you let her sleep for now. You may stay as long as you want, Namikaze-San."

"Thank you, Nurse."

The nurse walked off and turned around the corner before disappearing from view. Naruto turned back to the door and sighed dejectedly. He glanced downward and held back a whimper. If he'd been faster, then maybe Sakura wouldn't have needed to be in this situation. She could have been safe in his arms if he had gone back to the Leaf with her and the treaty in his hands a week ago. He'd had it the entire trip during their vacation, but they had decided to make an excuse to see each other again. All this tearing away from his secret girlfriend was killing Naruto on the inside and he was sure that it was the same for Sakura.

Sighing, Naruto stretched his hand forward and twisted the door handle and entered the room. Sakura lay on the bed that was inside every hospital. Needles were inside her skin flowing with medication and water into her veins and internal system. A respirator sounded to the right of the bed and a mask was fixed over Sakura's mouth and nose, providing her with oxygen in case her lungs gave out, and Naruto could see the signs of condensation on the inside of the mask indicating that she was breathing on her own.

Naruto walked forward and saw that a chair had been placed next to Sakura's bed with a clipboard on it. He picked it up and sat down next to Sakura, wrapping his hand in hers while looking at her chart of symptoms and injuries.

Sakura had a collapsed lung and kidney which were repaired and would be as good as new. All the sword cuts and kunai's were cleared as nonpoisonous, but for some reason, it said that some injuries would result in scarring that couldn't be removed. Naruto broke down in tears before stopping himself. He would make sure that those marks would remind her of only happiness from him.

With that thought in mind, Naruto looked at Sakura's face and watched as her chest moved up and down and looked as the respirator filled with condensation as Sakura breathed out. Mesmerized by the movements and emotionally drained, Naruto fell asleep next to Sakura's side, his hand still wrapped in Sakura's own.

The next morning, the sun rose and its rays surged forward in through the windows of the hospital. The light graced across the eyes of a girl that was irritated from that very light.

Sakura opened her eyes slowly as the light screens on the windows dimmed it to a more bearable setting and blinked the tiredness out of her mind. In her tired state, Sakura tried to breathe in and noticed the breathing mask over her face.

Sakura tried to lift her hands and felt a warm presence in her right hand and looked down at it to see another hand wrapped in hers. Sakura dully followed the hand up to the body and her eyes widened before squinting in happiness as she took in the sight of her love, Naruto.

Naruto was lying on Sakura's lower region and Sakura felt a surge of lustfulness fill her body before they turned into happiness as she was glad that Naruto found her comfy. She smiled before using her left hand to remove her mask and leaning up in the bed, gently squeezed Naruto's hand as she brushed a strand of Naruto's strand out of his face.

Naruto groaned as he started to move with Sakura's hand. His cerulean eyes opened slowly and as soon as he saw Sakura's smile and eyes, he quickly jumped up and pounced her lips with his own.

Sakura, so elated as Naruto, joined in the lip lock and soon they were kissing with passion as their hands roamed each other's bodies. When Naruto placed his hands on Sakura's hips, Sakura groaned suddenly in pain. Naruto broke off in worry.

"Sakura-Chan, what's wrong?"

"N-nothing," Sakura insisted as pain shot across her face, "L-let's j-just continue."

"No, Sakura-Chan, did I hurt you?"

"No!" Sakura groaned as she tried to lean upwards. "Naruto there is something that the…the rogues did to my back, w-with some experimental chakra. It can't be removed. I-I…I've been branded, Naruto." Sakura whispered as she tackled into Naruto with a full blown hug as she cried deeply into her love as Naruto simply held her with all his willpower.

End Chap

Beg Chap-The Brand

Naruto sat behind Sakura as she had turned around and let him hug her from behind. Every few seconds, Sakura would hiccup and another tear would fall from her emerald eyes. Naruto could stand it no longer.

"Sakura-Chan, please…show it to me." Naruto asked as he leaned his head on her left shoulder. Sakura moved her right hand to Naruto's left hand that had taken its place on Sakura's left arm.

"Naruto-Kun, I don't want to show you. You might run away once you see it. You might not want me. I'm…I'm not pure anymore. I-"

"Shh…" Naruto whispered as he started to trail kisses from the back of Sakura's shoulder to her neck and around to her cheek. With each kiss, Sakura's worry vanished just a little more, and finally she turned her head and upper frame to kiss Naruto deeply. Naruto could feel the agony and want in Sakura's kiss and tried to comfort her as best he could.

"Sakura-Chan, I won't run away because of this. We live lives that sometimes affect us to save the lives of those we have behind us. I'll always…always want you, whether you're sick, or dying or the worst person in the world, because you'll always be an angel in my eyes. You are pure, purer than I am at least, and you always will be, no matter who touches you."

Sakura smiled graciously and slowly turned around before breathing out loud and preparing herself for the worst. Slowly, Sakura nodded her head and with permission, Naruto slowly unbuttoned the back of Sakura's gown, showing more skin as he did so.

As the last button came off, Sakura clutched the front of the material to her neck, effectively covering her chest, and waited for the shock. Naruto simply looked at the brand that now marred Sakura's body. (Try to imagine this in your head)

A square, broken off at the corners, surrounded a V with a line down the center of it going to the inside of Sakura's body. Another line came through that smaller line, passed the point of the V and continued a little farther on. A diagonal line also crossed the square, joining two opposing corners. Finally, an R formed the side inside Sakura's body, the line that went through the V stopping in the center. All this was branded into Sakura's small of her back where her lowest rib met her right hip.

"It…It's the mark of those Rogues." Sakura whispered. Naruto listened to her story as he looked at the brand for a while longer. "There is an N that's twisted ninety degrees and the R completes the right side. The A connects the two corners, and the T forms the final side of the square."

"'The Northern Rogue Triple Alliance.' That's what they said that they had agreed to, and-and to celebrate," Sakura told Naruto as tears and memories washed and flooded over her, "they were going to have their way with me…together."

Naruto shushed Sakura as she broke out as never before and it took a good thirty minutes for Naruto to calm her down. As she started to doze off in Naruto's comforting arms, Naruto whispered delicately to her.

"Sakura-Chan, I will make you remember this brand as something new. For you brought me into a new place and a new experience out of dust, so I will do all I can to make this symbol into something that you can remember in happiness."

Sakura whispered 'thank you' before passing out in Naruto's hands and Naruto decided to doze off as well. His girlfriend was safe and that was all that mattered.


	15. Introduction

**Hey all. So glad to get back to all of you. Here are the responses to the reviewers who took the time to comment on my story thus far;**

**Logan Locke:...got it, no more phones. Won't really affect the political front in that way, but you will see what I mean later on.**

**ZeroTails317: Really? More romance? And here I thought I was adding it the whole time! ;) Alright then, I'll see what I can do for you**

**sanbi: not sure how to answer that. I like to read in my spare time, even if college beats it out of most. I read Artemis Fowl, both Percy Jackson Series, and of course a lot of stories from this site. But I read Wilkins75's stories and they showed me that I can make one as long and as adventurous as my current project.**

**Keeper of Worlds: Aw! Techniques! That is much appreciated. I dealt a lot with English class growing up, but I think it was worth it...besides the cursivwe they all say we'll use...I only use it for my signature!**

**Lonely Athena: The mark may or may not disappear. I haven't decided what to do with it yet.**

**Guest: It's meant to be a happy-ish sadness to relate to the readers. I'm sure we've all faced a little bit of that, but the happiness is always soon to follow.**

**DiizGirlJess: Hey! Good to see you! Definitely poor Sakura! Healing physically is fast, mentally scars ake much longer to heal.**

**7th Demon of RazGriz: Where have you been?! I've been waiting for your comments. She got branded like she's theirs, but now they are all dead. No reappearances, so she is safe from them.**

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**Wow! I really take the time to talk to my reviewers don't I? Oh well, review this, and I believe that you deserve to be a part of the story...well before the story. My story hit a hundred reviews! Yay! oh yeah...Remember that the day is darkest just before the dawn.**

**This chapter is the dawn-**

**Sorakage**

**Arc 2**

**Chapter 15: The Introduction**

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As the days passed, Naruto watched with growing happiness as Sakura became more and more healthy and started to move around in her bed, but still needed help in walking around the hospital. Her legs as well as the rest of her body had atrophied quickly from forced stunted growth and no way to move and been repeatedly broken during the short time of her capture by the rogues.

Luckily, Sakura had Naruto there the whole time and he acted like a physical coach and helped her to move on and forward in her rehabilitation. Sakura smiled a bit remembering how in the first days when she couldn't even move her arms more than raising them once a day how Naruto had helped her to eat and drink, and they had laughed on how the situation reminded them of their first date with the ramen, although now, Naruto couldn't deny Sakura anything in this situation, especially since Sakura had developed a puppy face that Naruto couldn't say no to.(aka the girlfriend face)

At the moment, the couple were walking around the garden in the middle of the hospital where its patients and staff could get some fresh air while it was still protected from attacks should the village actually be in such a state.

Sakura walked slowly to a bench, a sufficient sheen of sweat adorned on her face. Naruto slowly coaxed Sakura to sit down on a bench near the center of the garden before moving before her and dabbed her forehead with a white handkerchief that he had brought out with them.

Sakura smiled at how much attention and dedication she was receiving from her boyfriend. At the moment, she couldn't remember a time where he had not been by her side at every moment she was awake. Though, she had to admit that even this ten minute walk was killing her muscles and she had no doubt that she'd fall asleep soon enough.

"Naruto-Kun," Sakura whispered, "you don't have to baby me so much, you know."

"I don't mind all that much in all honesty, Sakura. It gives me some time to be by your side, and to take care of you. Something that I've been needing a lot from you lately." Naruto said as he moved behind Sakura as he turned her sideways on the bench before massaging her back slowly, earning a pleasurable moan from Sakura. "Plus, I get to actually learn where you like to be touched."

"Well, then shouldn't I have the same opportunity? Not that I'm complaining, but you're such a tease in this manner." Sakura said as she moaned back as Naruto massaged the small of her back over the now scarred tattoo, though she felt no pain but reassuring pleasure.

"I'm beginning to think that you like to be teased in this manner. Eh? Sa-Ku-Ra-Chan?" Naruto asked, whispering into her ear as his hands danced on the edge of her hospital gown at the waistband to it. The hospital gowns were white pants and shirt combos and the waist band was flat on Sakura's hips. Sakura breathed quickly before slowly nodding her head in agreement as she held in her moan by biting her lower lip. No sooner had the fun began than Naruto's hands moved back up to her shoulders, earning a whimper and a growl from Sakura.

"Now you're an even bigger tease, Naruto-Kun." Sakura growled at her boyfriend.

"So glad to be of help, Saku-Chan."

"Saku?"

"Just a little pet name for you."

"Hmm! You know, I like that! What else you got for me?"

"Well, only one really sticks out, but I'd want to say that you're my personal…Angel? Naruto tested the waters with his true feelings.

Sakura turned around and Naruto saw tears forming around the smiling face of his girlfriend. "Angel? You-you really think of me that way?"

"Of course I do," Naruto said as he wrapped his arms around Sakura's waist. Sakura looked around quickly before starting a brief make out session with Naruto. No sooner had they started than a cough emanated before them.

Naruto looked and saw Shikamaru and Ino standing there with smirks on their evident faces. Sakura was oblivious to this and slowly trailed down Naruto's neck, pecking down his chin to his ear and settled on his neck where she started sucking lightly. Naruto suppressed a moan as he slowly disengaged his neck from his girlfriend.

Sakura looked up at Naruto's face in confusion until she saw his eyes edging to the side wanting her to look around. As Sakura did, her face slowly reddened across her cheek as she saw Shikamaru and Ino and paled sufficiently more so before turning her head back around and hiding in Naruto's chest as a dark pink hue of blush appeared on Sakura's entire face.

"Hey, guys." Naruto said smoothly as he had to soothe Sakura into looking up again.

"Hey Naruto." Shikamaru said politely, but Ino wasn't about to let this delicate situation go.

"Forehead! Come on out! I want the details!" Ino shouted as she dragged Sakura away from her prince charming and Sakura quietly told Ino everything as Shikamaru and Naruto continued their conversation.

"The council will be holding the hearing for your village's proposed treaty in a week from now."

"Thanks, Shikamaru-San."

"Please, I think I know you enough now for us to call each other without a stranger's honorific. Anyways, you're Sakura's boyfriend; I have to get to know you so that I know what I'll do if you hurt her."

"I don't think I could even get myself to injure her in the slightest," Naruto said as he turned to watch Sakura's small smile as Ino gushed about how the situation looked.

"Don't worry about it. I feel the same way about Ino." Shikamaru replied as he looked to his girl.

"So, you actually asked her out?"

"Yeah, last week, after Sakura woke up. I figured that I would make it a day to remember."

"To make it, 'not too troublesome', I suppose."

"You know, I hate it when others do that, but yeah, basically." Shikamaru admitted. "Moving on, the council will most likely pass the treaty, but because of this, we'll have to create an ambassador between your and our villages."

"I know, and I think that I know the perfect person." Naruto smiled.

"It's Sakura, isn't it?" Shikamaru asked knowingly.

"Yeah. She's perfect and since I'll be the ambassador from my village, you can't ignore the fact that we know each other."

"Correct; plus the fact that will go unspoken that it will give you two lovebirds time to be together."

Naruto just smiled back at Shikamaru as he coined the phrase. "Maybe I'm just trying to make it a time to remember."

* * *

A week passed and Naruto and Sakura were soon heading over to the council chambers, to discuss the treaty that Naruto had originally come here for. As they walked ahead, they watched around them as a light drizzle of rain started to pour around them. Naruto looked at Sakura and the way her face contorted in pain as she tried to keep herself upright.

Sakura breathed in deeply as she walked forward with the intent so as to not bother Naruto. While the doctors had cleared her for walking around, the capture had left internal bruising on her left ankle and up to her calf on her left side, causing her to wince at the slightest touch.

Sakura tried to keep the pain noiseless, but she groaned internally as small whimpers escaped her mouth. Normally, they wouldn't be heard, but Sakura knew that Naruto's hearing was more attuned than others and that he would no doubt figure her out and insist on returning to the hospital.

Sakura loved helping in the hospital, but to be a patient? It just sent chills down her spine. She just couldn't take all the white washed walls and beeping of equipment with nothing to do but sleep. Sakura let a small smile grace her lips as she remembered that Naruto had never left her for more than a few minutes whenever she was awake. He would go to the library as she slept and bring back books to read to her and insisted on keeping Sakura in bed while she in turn read out loud to him. Naruto just had the kindest heart at all the best times. The thought sent butterflies throughout Sakura's body, allowing her to recall how hard she was falling for the blond with each day that passed.

During that first week with Naruto, she had thought that it may have been a crush at best, although an extremely strong one, I mean come on! She had offered to proudly display her upper body without clothing or wrappings for him! And he denied himself of that pleasure! But as the seasons changed, and the months passed, she found herself waiting incessantly for the next letter he would send her and she would sit outside the post office reading his words and writing rapidly in response. It had even gotten so bad that Ino had had to pull Sakura away with help from her then best friend Shikamaru from that very post office when the man had insisted for four hours that he had no letters for her that day.

Sakura was sadly and quickly brought out of her wonderful thoughts by a sudden and great pain which caused Sakura to cry out before she felt back into a wall, keeping her left foot straight as to not add any weight to it. Sakura looked to her right and saw Naruto standing there next to her as they leaned under a canopy that diverted the water to gently cascade around them.

Naruto noticed the worried look on Sakura's face and smiled sadly as he knew what she had been worrying about. "How's the leg?" As he saw the widened eyes, Naruto embraced Sakura in a hug, to which Sakura gratefully accepted.

"It hurts, Naruto-Kun." Sakura muttered honestly into Naruto's shoulder.

"I told you that you should have stayed for a couple more days."

"But I have a duty, remember? I have the honor of getting to announce you to the council."

"Geez Sakura-Chan, you're just so stubborn sometimes." Naruto sighed.

Sakura smirked before replying, "Reminds me of you and your ninja way." Naruto smiled before leaning down and looking deeply into Sakura's eyes. He saw something that he hadn't seen before. A slight…playfulness mixed in with what he could only guess was lust? Sakura suddenly leaned up on her tip toes and pressed her lips against Naruto's and pressed against him awaiting his response. Yeah! It was most definitely lust. Naruto conceded as he joined in the fun and Sakura smiled into the kiss as she wrapped her arms around Naruto's neck.

Sakura squeaked into the kiss and broke off as her feet left the ground and she hung in midair at Naruto's waist and chest level. Sakura blushed further and stared off into space as Naruto's hand gripped her ass lightly. She looked up at Naruto in awe before the two laughed as Naruto renewed their journey to the chambers, with Naruto carrying her all the way with his hands on her ass in secret.

Naruto carried Sakura through the chamber door and was about to carry her to the center of the room when Sakura quickly pulled Naruto's shirt and tugged downwards while stopping right out of the lit area. Naruto leaned forward and slowly placed Sakura down; much to both of their displeasures.

Sakura tenderly stepped on her foot and wince slightly before breathing out as the pain lessened. She nodded to Naruto before walking out into the light of the chamber and right into the center of the room, with Naruto right on her tail. Sakura bowed low to the council.

"Honorary council, I, Sakura Haruno, have done as requested and brought Naruto Namikaze of the hidden Sky village to you all to discuss the treaty between the villages of Konoha and the hidden Sky village." Sakura replied in what Naruto could only know as a well off family practiced voice.

"Very well. You may step aside now." Hiashi Hyuuga stated. Sakura bowed low again before backtracking her footfalls and hiding back in the shadows. Naruto stepped forward and addressed the council.

"Dear Council, I Naruto Namikaze have travelled from the village hidden in the Sky to bring you this treaty."

"Yes, Namikaze-San." Danzo, the 4th Hokage stated as he read off a copy of the treaty. "As we have discussed and looked over the treaty, we have noticed that this document is more valuable than what you are giving it credit. No other nation besides your own has a good readout of the wasteland that covers your supposed borders."

"So the question is; why would you give such a valuable asset for a simple map of our own territory?" Shikaku Nara questioned.

"It is simply our custom." Naruto stated plainly. When he saw that the answer wasn't enough, he continued. "In the village of the Sky, we have a simple system; trade for trade. No two for one deals inside political spectrums. To put it simply; a map for a map. That's all there is to it. You either accept the treaty or you do not. That is after all, the basis of your voting, is it not?"

"You are correct in assuming this." Inoichi Yamanaka admitted as the other councilors nodded their heads in agreement.

"Will you allow us to debate for a while more on this and similar matters?"

"Of course. I would like to stay close by, if you don't mind?"

"Of course not. Please, use the upper atrium for a place to wait. Haruno-San will do her 'Best' to show you a good time. Won't you dear?" Maki Haruno stated suggestively as he smiled at his daughter, though only she understood the underlying meaning.

Sakura for her part blushed briefly before stepping out and grabbing Naruto's hand lightly and pulling him out of the room.

"Now, let us discuss this treaty in further detail." The Hokage stated as they all settled in for a long discussion concerning the new village.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed the playful romance in this chapter and hope to continue to surprise you in the near future. As always, R X R! Howl!**


	16. A Dreamed Position

**First the Reviewers, Then the AN, and finally the Story. So Let's begin.**

**DiizGirlJess: Hey, you responded before I posted the next chapter, so all is forgiven. Plus, it means that you put effort into reading the chapter. P.S. is your squel completely valley girl style, or a simple one?**

**Guest: I'm glad you liked the romance build-up because it is going to continue and spill over into this next chapter.**

**Sanbi: I feel like you reviewers deserve it. You spend the time to respond, so I am just imputing the same amount to you. I got attached to him on Return of Namikaze after he had completed it. Sadly, I personally feel that he sucked the life out of his stories when he took out any sexual scenes throughout any of his stories. The way he wrote them truly made the story romantic and touching and not even sounding dirty to read. And when he marks the story as romance, that says a lot about the stories.**

**Zerotails317: Me love that you like! Here's some tricky Naruto for you. Try to guess his unpredictable stunt before the end.**

**Keeper of Worlds: Simple but sweet; thanks!**

**Logan Locke: I do feel extremely proud, and I achieved it sooner and with less chapters too. You want "acquinted"? Well here you go! **

**7th Demon of RazGriz: You are Kakashi?! Ah! He's become an actual person! The government can now turn animation into real life! AHH! (Hide under the sea!)**

* * *

**AN: I've gone through my previous chapters and added in the Arc 1 mention and have all of your reviews which I am glad to have read and used for my own benefit, aka building the story more thoroughly. **

**Sorakage Arc 2**

**Chap 16: A dreamed position**

Sakura gasped slowly as Naruto sucked on her neck, just like he'd been doing for the last minute or so, which to the young secret couple felt like eternity. An audible moan sounded out of her mouth and Naruto stopped and looked up at her face, and smiled at the heavenly pleasurable look that adorned her face.

After a minute more, Sakura finally calmed down enough as her breathing came back under her own control.

"That was…amazing." Sakura breathed deeply as she laid her head upon Naruto's shoulder and wrapped her arms around his neck as Naruto himself held her around her waist.

"So? Was it a good compromise?"

"No…but I'll wait for you. You're worth it and yet worth so much more. You know, now that I think about it, shouldn't this be the other way around? You wanting more and me denying you?" Sakura giggled before she smiled as she looked up at Naruto before they connected with one last kiss before splitting apart just as a ninja with a Hawk mask entered the room. The two quickly stood up and followed the ninja back to the council's chambers before Naruto stopped in the shadows before watching the ninja turn the corner.

He turned around and hugged Sakura earning a gasp as Sakura looked up at Naruto. A short silence ensued before Naruto wrapped around Sakura harder in a reassuring way.

"I heard you sniffling a second ago." Naruto whispered as Sakura once again gasped before showing a face of true sadness as she joined in the hug.

"I just don't want you to leave yet. Once you have this treaty, you'll have to go."

"Don't worry, Sakura-Chan. I have a plan to spend more time with you."

"Y-you do?"

"Trust me." Naruto smiled sincerely causing Sakura to scoff and playfully hit Naruto before pushing him around the corner and into the light of the council room, but not before whispering, "Baka, I'll always trust you."

Naruto smiled goofily for a split second, making all of the ninja councilors beside Danzo, for he had refused to look at Naruto, wonder how he was so happy, before he collected himself and stood once again in the center as Sakura leaned against the wall in the shadows of the entrance, forever watching his every move in case she had to defend him; whatever that meant although her heart was telling her it meant everything but Sakura ignored that feeling for now as the council began to speak.

"Namikaze-San, we have reviewed your treaty and have found it…satisfactory to our own needs and wants."

"That is good, I presume?"

"You presume correct. Let us honor this treaty with the information that we each desire."

A ninja with a blank mask stepped forward carrying a scroll with green trimming along the edges. Once he reached the middle, there was a poof of smoke before a table appeared and the ninja placed his scroll on the side of the table closest to him.

Naruto reached into his vest, his hand disappearing for a second before he pulled out his own scroll, this one with a sky blue trimming and placed it on his own side. Slowly, the ninja moved the scrolls next to each other before lifting their hands and reaching for the opposing scrolls.

Naruto grabbed the green trimmed scroll up and backed away, opening it and looking at the details once over as the blank masked ninja took the blue scroll and turned around, the table disappearing from view. The ninja moved to the Nara section and handed the scroll over to Shikaku who looked at the scroll for a single second before his eyes widened.

"T-t-this can't be real," Shikaku stuttered.

"It is," Naruto replied dismissively as he looked at his new information.

"How is there life in that wasteland?"

Before Shikaku, the map showed greenery and forests and even a few mountains that were each surrounded by what seemed to be wasteland around it and yet small slivers, like a river, connected to each and every one of the fertile lands.

"That I can't tell you. It is, as you say, a village secret." Naruto smirked as he looked up at the council. Most of the councilors' faces were content with the answer, but a few as well as Danzo the Hokage of Konoha, were highly annoyed by the answer.

"If that is all, then I will take my leave." Naruto stated as he began to walk away, before Danzo called out to him.

"That is NOT all, Namikaze." Danzo growled. Naruto turned around with a content smile and Sakura wondered if making the Hokage mad had been his plan all along.

"Then I would hope that you get along with your request." Naruto suggested earning another glare from the Hokage.

"We have been informed," Inoichi Yamanaka quickly butted in, hoping to alleviate the mood, "through one of our ninja and fellow councilman that your swordsmanship is above par in many ways."

"Then I would simply advise Uchiha-San to think twice before he gives information so freely." Naruto stated as he smiled annoyingly at Sasuke, earning an equally annoyed smile from Sasuke in return.

"At this very moment, we as a village believe that our swordsmanship is below par as a whole, and so speaking would like to ask the village hidden in the sky if they would let you train some of our own ninja in your style so that we may train our ninja more effectively."

"No."

"What?" A minor councilman whispered but it echoed around the room.

"I created my style on my own. It is all my own; that is the true worth of a swordsman. It can't be taught to a village as a set example for it then becomes easy to defend and use against others for violence. Shortcuts would be invented and misuse of my style would result in consequences.

Besides that, my style is for my personal students in the Sky village."

"You are a Jounin-Sensei?"

"Yes, and I will be entering my team into one of the Chunnin Exams as well." Naruto stated offhandedly. "Back to the issue however, it is not a style I give to a village, so I must decline the offer. My village could not force a ninja to do something they do not want to do, and my village would never do that regardless."

"Very well," Inoichi sighed a little sad that their offer had been denied. "We will drop the issue until another time. Now we must move on to the next issue at hand. Now that our two villages have signed a treaty, through the exchange of information, we must now choose ambassadors to keep in contact with each of our villages. I assume that they chose you for that very reason."

"They did. I am, after all, formerly of the village hidden in the leaves, and know more of the ninja here than anywhere else. I am the ambassador."

"Excellent," Shikaku stated. "Now that that is settled, we simply must decide on an ambassador from our village. Who does the council suggest?"

"I suggest my daughter Ino as an ambassador." Inoichi suggested. "She is a fine kunoichi with a great sense for political matters."

"I am not so sure that my son would like that. As he is the ambassador already to the Sand village, they would never see each other if she took that position." Shikaku stated, earning the nods of the other councilman. A short silence ensued before a voice called out.

"Could I possibly offer a suggestion?" Naruto questioned.

Most of the councilors shrugged. Why not let the ambassador offer his opinion?

"You may have the floor."

"I would suggest…" Naruto lingered as he glanced backward and smiled, "… Sakura Haruno." Naruto watched as Sakura gasped her face still as stone, as she slowly slipped down the wall at the mention of her name before she looked in awe at what Naruto had suggested.

It was at the moment of her name that Sakura knew deep down that this was the solution to their problem. By being ambassadors, not only would they travel from village to village together, they would be staying at hotels and missions and houses…together. Sakura blushed as she remembered what they had just done in the atrium and imagined the complete privacy of a room and herself and Naruto before focusing more on Naruto's following comments.

"Why do you suggest my daughter?" Maki Haruno asked with a raised eyebrow, curious as a father, and wary of what he might do to her.

"I suggest Sakura Haruno for a number of reasons. The first reason being that like Shikamaru and Ino, Sakura is the child of a council member. Therefore, she is well defined in the knowledge of proper etiquette and protocol of a council of a hidden village and is well rooted inside the village itself.

The second factor is that I am already well acquainted with the Haruno clan, at least to a minimal extent, as well as Sakura herself through a couple of missions now. I could go on, but I believe that those reasons are the most important for an ambassador."

…..

…..

"She is very smart."

"And she has strong ties to the village."

"My daughter can convince people of most ideas."

….

"Alright, it is decided; Sakura Haruno will be the Ambassador between the village of Konoha and the village hidden in the Sky."

* * *

"I can't Believe It!" Sakura screamed for what had to be the hundredth time as she bounced up and down on her good foot as she hugged Naruto in the comfort of a single tent in the middle of the forest near the border of Konoha.

After the council had named Sakura an ambassador, she had been called to the middle of the room and had been read her rights into all that she would need to survive and protect the secrets of both villages for an ambassador does not reveal information of either village. That was the true meaning of an ambassador.

Sakura, as soon as they had left the chambers, had tackled Naruto down to the ground of the atrium and kissed him fervently as she tried to express how happy she was that his plan had worked and how he had given her a position that she had secretly coveted and wanted ever since she was a little girl going through the academy.

She had been told that since Naruto had already had a tour of Konoha, that it was Sakura's turn to see the Sky village. So, they had packed their bags and set off on the way to the Hidden Sky that very night.

After sunset had hit, Naruto had suggested that they make camp and Sakura had agreed since they were in no such hurry to go between villages. Naruto had pulled out his tent and set it up while Sakura started a fire with a Katon jutsu and brought water from a nearby stream using an easy water jutsu into a small well that she'd made next to the fire with a suitable earth jutsu, though she had thought about simply punching a well for a few seconds.

Naruto had asked if she wanted him to set up her tent when she had simply replied with no and said that she didn't bring one with her. When Naruto had asked why, Sakura had simply replied that she wanted to cuddle.

That was where they were now, Sakura still bouncing from the excitement between Naruto's knees as they sat in the edge of the tent as the fire before them cooked their food for them.

"Naruto-Kun, I just can't believe that I'm an ambassador, and that was a childhood dream of mine to come true. Did you really plan this all out?"

"Well…Basically. The council of the Sky wanted the map information and I knew that once a treaty is signed that ambassadors are made. I knew that you were more than qualified for the job and you had mumbled about it in Mizu Huki when slept. Besides those things, it simply means that I get more time to spend with you."

Sakura turned back slightly, stealing Naruto's lips with her own in a sign of short but happy bliss. Sakura sighed as she leaned back into Naruto's chest. "Amen to that. I was really feeling like it had been ages since I'd last seen you. And then with the rogues…" Sakura trailed off as she reached back and rubbed the spot with one of the scars during the initial explosion when the rogues had first captured her on her neck before shrugging… "but that's all behind us. I finally get to see where you grew up."

"Sakura-Chan, you have to remember that I helped build the Sky village."

"I know," Sakura replied quickly, "but you still grew up in the area and that is good enough for me."

"Let's get some rest. We have a big day ahead of us."

"I not (Yawn) sleepy though."

"A-huh." Naruto snickered before wrapping his arms around Sakura and falling back on the sleeping bag in the tent, with Sakura on his chest as she turned around to face him.

"Well, if you're going to stay up, don't wake me." Naruto said before closing his eyes. Sakura groaned before snuggling deeper into Naruto's chest, mumbling something about how she hated losing arguments to Naruto.

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**Hope you loved the romance building scene and her new position. Next chapter is all romance as the story starts to form another section of the body. **

**R X R! Howl!**


	17. The Path

**Reviewers:**

**MK Loves NaruSaku: How was that for your NaruSaku huh? Try this one on for size**

**ZeroTails317: I cannot divulge that information at this time. Just know that Naruto has chosen Sakura**

**7th Demon of RazGriz: AHA! Hentai! You read the book! And I believe its icha icha, (Awesome though Kakashi-ero-sensei)**

**Logan Locke: Liked the kink? Here's some more of that. Was my idea, but was so glad when you suggested the ambassador again, it was like our ideas merged. So i'll give 0.01% credit ;) (Try getting that percent at a bank)**

**Lonely Athena: That's what I was going for, sweet. And after stringing you guys along for so long...of course I make some time for them together.**

**Keeper of Worlds: Cute? Never thought you'd say that word. Your name sounds so ominous for it. But I'll take it. As for Crazy? Not sure but I'll try.**

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**AN: So I had a rough time between a reviewer and myself these past few days between chapters and he said that my story line is childish. We have resolved our dispute for the most part, though his reviews were less than appropriate to myself. But anyways,...**

**My loyal readers and reviewers have informed me that you guys thought the last part was cute, sweet and romantic; this chapter has them going to third base so be prepared to skip if you feel like you are not a mature audience of such things. Still_ sweet_, but may be a little _sweaty_ (he? he? No?) because sweat is salty? Anywho,**

**In the next chapters, pay attention to the scenery, and the backgrounds pointed out as they will be used again but less detailed as they are done so here. I tried to make it as draw-able as possible but with some chakra stuff involved. Enjoy! **

**Sorakage Arc 2**

**Chapter 17 The Path**

* * *

The next morning, Sakura awoke to the sight of her boyfriend asleep next to her on their shared sleeping bag. She watched as Naruto breathed lightly in his sleep and Sakura giggled quietly as it brushed against her skin and moved her sleepy bangs out of her eyesight.

Sakura slowly sat up and brought a hand up to her bangs before sweeping them behind her ear and stretching out her muscles. She felt a little stiff around her waist and looked down to see that Naruto's arm had snaked around it. Sakura smiled before nudging Naruto awake. They had a big day today and she would be damned if they marched through the wasteland in the hot climate and time of the day.

* * *

The trees thinned dramatically before they disappeared altogether as a scene of dry rocks and dirt known as the wasteland appeared before them. Sakura shivered involuntarily before she started to breathe heavily. Naruto, one to notice the change, asked what was wrong.

"It's just that…we hear stories of ninja and squads venturing in and spending days trying to simply walk out. And when they do, their brain dead and exhausted beyond compare. It-it frightens me, Naruto-Kun."

"Sakura-Chan, I'll be right here beside you, and I know my way around the area well. You can trust me."

"I know; I'm just new to this…um, what do you call it?...new adventure? I go on missions where I know where everything is."

"And now, you'll know where to go here as well." Naruto said as he took Sakura's hand and together they started their journey into the wasteland that was the Sky village Supposed boundary line. One could only say that because no other village had claimed it due to the mental and death cases as had been stated by the female ambassador. They had been walking for a couple of hours when they could barely see the mountains further beyond. As they walked through, Naruto continued.

"You know, that's one of the reasons that normal ninja can't find the village or the plains."

"What do you mean, Naruto-Kun?" Sakura question as they came up to a tree in the middle of nowhere. The tree was dead and looked to be as dry and brittle as fine grain. As Sakura started to pass on the left side, Naruto pulled her back and faced the tree.

"The wasteland is a special place. It has a natural genjutsu that shrouds the plains and meadows from simple and advanced bloodline sight. It tricks your senses into following the way of the land, which is actually the lie of the land. You must ignore your instincts here. Notice the shade of the tree on the left side?"

"Yeah?" Sakura said skeptically.

"Most people in this hot weather would go to the left to get a brief respite from the sun, but if we go right…" Naruto said as he pulled Sakura around the right side of the tree and suddenly, Sakura found herself looking down a canyon of shade.

"But-But…"

"Natural genjutsu, Sakura-Chan. This was where the original genjutsu was found and made. You can't dispel it; you can only feel for it." Naruto said as they walked deeper into the canyon.

Naruto kept explaining the tricks and secrets of the land to Sakura as they walked passed boulders and cliffs and through caves and even between trees. Sakura was glad to have Naruto there to teach her and knew that she would have never figured this out on her own.

Suddenly, Sakura found herself in an intense glare of sunlight and Sakura quickly covered her eyes, but the light still got through. Sakura thought that it would never leave her when she suddenly felt something being placed on her ears and the dimming sensation on her eyes helped her with the glare.

Sakura opened her eyes to see huge great green plains before her and the intense glare was so much dimmer than before. Sakura looked to Naruto to see that he had the same contraption on his face covering his eyes as well.

"Naruto, what are these things?"

"My village created them to help with the area's intense glare. We call them…sunglasses."

"Sunglasses?"

"Yeah. They dim the glare of the sun and they can be taken on and off just like normal glasses."

"That's really cleaver. I'm sure you've sold a lot. Your economy must be booming"

"Yeah, I guess that you could say so. We've sold around a million pairs."

"A million?" Sakura asked shock at the amount. "How much did you make?"

"Five million Ryo."

"…Naruto, your village sold these sunglasses for five ryo a piece?" Sakura deadpanned.

"Well, yeah. Only in our village and some of the smaller villages with a knocked down version though. When we trade outside, we'll boost the price tremendously. Plus, it was our trial run."

"Oh! Well, I'll remember to give these back to you later."

"You can keep them. You'll need them in order to make your way through the illusions better."

"What do you mean?"

"Sakura-Chan, I told you that we sold knock down sunglasses and I taught you the way to read the land without these sunglasses. But here place chakra into the glasses. They have some seals to funnel it inside the lenses"

Sakura did so, and suddenly the plain before her turned into neon colors of green and brown and the water turned to bright white. Sakura turned around to see the path behind her brown as well, but the cliffs were grey and yellow. Sakura quickly took out the chakra and everything turned back to normal.

"Wow."

"Yeah. When we do branch out though, the chakra system won't be added."

"Village exclusive?" Sakura knowingly asked.

"And ambassador exclusive." Naruto grinned earning a punch in the shoulder from a playful Sakura before he friskily pounced at her, rolling down the slope of the hill into the plains before them. As they came to a stop, Naruto laid on the ground, his arms at Sakura's hips as she sat on top of his hips, her own hips on his membered area making him groan more when Sakura gyrated her hips once.

"S-Sakura-Chan?"

"No one's here to stop us now. W-we can do something…more than last time I mean."

"Oh, so my vixen wants to play?" Naruto asked with a mischievous smile.

Sakura nodded with a smile of her own before suddenly finding herself on the bottom as Naruto caressed her face with his hand. Sakura groaned in both annoyance and pleasure.

"Naruto-Kunnnnn…that's not fairrrr. You cheated."

"What can I say? I just want to grope those gorgeous breasts of yours when they're actually on display after so long."

**Warning-Turning borderline T-M**

Sakura grinned before she slowly unbuttoned her blouse inside her vest, taking it off before reaching between the mesh of clothing to lift up her sports bra teasingly before her cleavage bounced around and shimmered with slight sweat at attention for Naruto's eyes. Naruto smiled before looking to Sakura for confirmation. Sakura put her blouse on the ground and place the bra back down before nodding.

Slowly, Naruto reached down and quickly unzipped the rest of Sakura's black vest, watching as Sakura's now exposed stomach moved up and down rapidly. Naruto quickly removed the vest from Sakura's body to the sports bra that Sakura had hid herself in again.

Naruto moved to the edge of the fabric, his thumbs flicking the band of the bottom of the bra, but at the same time, the rest of his fingers were continually grazing the edge of Sakura's covered breasts.

Sakura moaned lightly as she felt the teasing of her breasts but this teasing was something that meant so much to her. It felt like…foreplay, and Sakura was loving every second of it. She looked up to watch as Naruto's eyes were focused so much on his actions that Sakura knew he'd be surprised with what happened next.

Naruto groaned slowly as he felt pressure on his manhood and took a second to look down and saw Sakura's leg grazing itself on Naruto's manhood and continued to apply pressure to the area. Naruto looked back up and Sakura and his eyes met and squinted as they knew that the other wanted to give just as much as receive in this situation.

A couple seconds passed before suddenly the couple reached down and met in the middle with a fervent match of shown kissing. Sakura reached behind Naruto's back and started to pull his black jacket off as well, and Naruto quickly complied as they broke only to take off the jacket before they resumed their passionate lip lock.

The next time they parted, each of them took off their undershirt and sports bra in unison, before the pair took a break to look at each other's upper bodies. Not that they hadn't seen the areas before a month ago at the hot springs, but it was foggy then.(I know, total lies)

Sakura took in the sight of Naruto's abs and upper shoulders and slowly brought her hands up to them and started to roam over them, taking in the sight and feel as imagined looking at them all day long, something that she could do right now.

Naruto for his part, took in the sights of hidden abs that Sakura had started to have and wondered how much training Sakura had begun to do. When he had talked to Sasuke, he had heard that Sakura hadn't really trained until she had met Naruto, but as Naruto rubbed her stomach, it was almost hard.

**Warning-Considered Mature-Read only if you are mature and can see the romance of the story progressing **

* * *

He moved his hands up and groped Sakura's breasts and heard Sakura moan as her legs started to rub together. Naruto reached up and placed Sakura's right nipple between his middle and index finger and rubbed sensuously. Sakura moaned louder and called out Naruto's name, causing Naruto to feel so elated and more horny with the situation as it was.

After some more teasing, Sakura pushed Naruto up with lust in her eyes and tugged at Naruto's pants. Naruto stood up with Sakura joining him and together they removed the rest of their clothes, underwear included.

Naruto moved down and spread Sakura's legs a part as he took in the sight of Sakura's womanhood. Naruto moved his head forward before Sakura giggled and pushed Naruto's head back and Naruto's body followed until he was laid out on the ground.

Sakura quickly got on Naruto's chest and tickled him lightly on the neck. As Naruto got over his laughter, Sakura spoke up.

"I've figured Naru-Kun that if one of us won't give in, then perhaps we can have what we want at the same time."

"You mean the one in Icha Icha where-"

"Exactly"

**Very mature Scene-skip to next part**

* * *

As Sakura finished her affirmation, she turned her body around, her womanhood now above Naruto's face. Naruto breathed in deeply before Sakura sat on his face, his mouth on her womanhood. Naruto immediately put his tongue inside and Sakura visibly shook at the sudden experience and moaned out louder than any time beforehand.

As Sakura got a little more used to the penetration of Naruto's tongue, she leaned down and Naruto's manhood came into sight. Sakura brushed her hair behind her ears before bending down and brought her mouth down upon the tip and started a bobbing motion as she held it in between her hands.

Naruto continued his ministrations and after feeling Sakura start her own brought his hands around Sakura ass and brought her lower body fully down so his tongue delved further into Sakura's womanhood.

As the minutes ticked by, Sakura took more and more of Naruto's manhood into her mouth until he reached the back of her throat before Sakura took the plunge and brought the last of Naruto inside her mouth, and down her throat as Naruto reached the back with his tongue.

Naruto and Sakura moaned incessantly like foxes in heat for a few minutes, delighting in the feelings they were receiving and as they finally reached their peaks and within a couple seconds, the both of them exploded out upon each other. Naruto began drinking up Sakura's juices as Sakura simply swallowed Naruto's salty juice as it shot out already going down her throat.

* * *

**End Mature**

As the climaxes ceased after a good minute, Sakura slowly sat up and got off Naruto's head before trying to get up. Unfortunately, her legs were that of jelly and since it was Sakura's first experience in such an act, Sakura fell back down, next to Naruto who just laid there as he tried to process all that had happened and how great this experience was.

Naruto turned his head to see Sakura breathing deeply and smiled. "So, that's what it feels like when you have a 69."

"Y-yeah. My parents always whispered about it and other sexual things. They were always out of breath the next morning, but they were always smiling. T-that's why I wanted it so bad with you. So that I could have that smiling idiocy on my face…and on yours"

After the two got their breath back, they looked around and saw a stream close to them and quickly took a dip to remove the smell from their bodies and to cleanse them. After a couple minutes of washing each other, and with more groping more from Sakura than Naruto, they walked hand in hand, out onto dry land and quickly put their clothes on and started walking while their bodies dried in the sunlight.

Sakura thanked Naruto for the much needed foreplay while Naruto blushed the whole time saying that he hadn't minded at all. Sakura though knew what was on his mind and had quickly flashed him as she had bent over to stretch, ever teasing the man who she loved.

Sakura and Naruto walked within the valley of plains for a couple of hours until Naruto pointed out a hill and soon arrived at the top just before the village of the Sky. Sakura looked out before her and was astounded by what she saw.

* * *

**Seems like that chapter sped right on by, but that meant it's great for you to read it. Not full-blown sex, but they are so not ready for that yet. Maybe in the near future?**

**R X R Howl!**


	18. Village hidden in the Sky

**Reviewers:**

**Tony Blu: Glad you like the specialized invention. More will be coming out so count on more to follow**

**Lonely Athena: Hot? Glad you liked it, hard to really think of what to have them do and not go too far with their relationship.**

**Logan Locke: Another Hot? Wow. And no it didn't sound wrong, Lemons and Limes have taste...I have them in moderation...the actual food of course. Glad you saw the maturity in the situation.**

**7th Demon of Razgriz: Timber forms hand signs and sees Razgriz's back turned and birds chirping...before casting a substitution jutsu with Razgriz. Timber appears with Razgriz was and watches as Razgriz falls into the lava below, before erecting a monument to the 7th demon who failed to kill the man known as timber of the infamous Wolfe clan.-kind of kind you off, how's that for pecking order? I am a wolf, top of the food chain.**

**ZeroTails317: You enjoyed it too? I'm glad, simply glad.**

**DiizGirlJess: I couldn't believe it either until it stayed in my mind for so long I had to write it. I know I've read a couple on fanfics before I wrote one, so many just no matching stories between us. I read mainly NaruSaku after all. And don't be sorry, at least, not as long as you review! That'll make it up to me. Plus, that reviewer, while completely out of line, boosted my review count so I can just add them to your missing ones, so you're all clear.**

* * *

**AN: So...I see you guys are having a wonderful time with this Arc and these past chapters, and I simply am proud to have you reading these. They make it worth it when I spend the hours writing these stories. I got three reviews telling me my mature portion was _hot_, I didn't know how it worked out, but it did, and I hope those that read it saw the love gained from the action.**

**Now, on a serious note, you must, MUST, read these next chapters carefully as they are described and used for the rest of the story with a passion. This is the main portion of the story, where there is sadness, happiness, anger, hate, scars, death, rejoice. All of this in the future chapters. So, pleae read carefully and try to remember the various things as you read my story. I have many plot bends in this village all in my head and I have tried to bring it out as best I can. **

**So, Without further ado, Howl!**

**Sorakage Arc 2**

**Chap 18:The Village hidden in The Sky**

* * *

Sakura stood amazed at the astounding sight before her.

Endless mountains stretched out into the direct distance far beyond what her eyes could see. At the top of said mountains were snow capped mountains filling the sky behind those closest to her current position. A part of a tall ridge line parted into a circular manner along the right side of what seemed to be a village down below. Sakura looked down into the village below and took note that the space that it provided for was twice that of Konoha.

Stone-sand walls, thirty feet high, surrounded the perimeter of the supposed village boundaries and small slats in the walls showed rectangular shapes on them indicating to Sakura that the walls had an interior array of tunnels and exits. The wall continued from the ridge line on the right and circled the rest of the way till it reached the mountain line that it began from.

Sakura turned her head to the left and saw a deep chasm, at least a mile down from what she could surmise at this angle, and saw that it was one hundred feet across, a perfect defense against civilian armies and bandits and barely crossable to the best of ninja from having to jump so far and so high. Sakura noted that after one hundred feet of ground after the chasm, the wall rose up to fifteen feet before coming to a cornerstone and rising up again. The chasm soon ended after that, which made Sakura wonder if it was ninja made or not.

Sakura turned her attention back into the village itself. Buildings covered the center of the village and streets led to what seemed to be four or five exits to the walls of the city. Sakura noticed that there were clan lands set up with much acreage to offer for future expansions. Sakura knew that from the look and size of this village that this nation and village would grow rapidly and would be a force to be reckoned with in the near future.

Sakura took in the sites further as one or two large lakes were inside the village with another near the wall on the eastern side. Trees like that of Konoha filled much of the village, but only a quarter with filled as if that of a forest. Sakura's eyes scanned a rather large forest near the back of the village that flowed into a small chasm into the mountain range itself.

Finally, Sakura took notice of all the rivers that seem to split from near the back center of the village and noticed a stream of water and a haze of mist flowing directly into the pool of a lake. But this flow was from above. Sakura looked upwards and saw with amazement as a cliff led up from the mountain directly to the center of the village before a waterfall appeared at its end and had the look of a waterslide dropping off its contents into the lake and river as some hazed into the atmosphere that although it was hot, Sakura felt it from here that the air was moist but still pleasantly warm.

All of this was Sakura's first and soon to be many sights of the village hidden in the sky.

* * *

"Ready to meet my village?" Naruto asked as he walked up next to Sakura and took hold of her hand.

Sakura simply nodded as they began their trek down the hill and onto a flat part of terrain that led to what Sakura supposed was a gate into the village. Trees flanked the path that they were on until they reached one hundred feet, the supposed invasion line, Sakura surmised as with the chasm back in the plains. Sakura looked forward expecting to see a wooden or steel gate, but before her was just the wall.

Sakura turned to ask Naruto where the gate was when suddenly and without a sound, the wall split completely in two with a line running down the middle, and Sakura simply watched as two ninja appeared behind the stone doors as their fingers moved in an artistic manner as if drawing a picture.

Once the doors were open, Naruto lead Sakura through and into the center where another walled door stood. Sakura took note that the gate was ten feet thick for a single entryway, making even a destructive jutsu give its all to make a dent let alone break through the door. And yet they had two sets of doors. Sakura looked to the side to see a slab of rock sink down into the earth below it as the two ninja that had just closed the door behind them entered inside the wall's interior that Sakura had surmised earlier as tunnels and passageways inside the walls earlier before the slab slowly rose back up, sealing the wall once again.

The second door opened and Sakura held in a gasp of awe as the start of the city.

"Welcome, Sakura-Chan, to the Hidden Sky Village, or as the villagers have named it, SkySora."(Pronounced Skii-Sor-rah)

"Sky-Sky?" Sakura asked as she surveyed the rather simple yet intricate designs of the houses and marketplace as they started to walk through the forest road that lead the middle of the village.

"Yes. It sounds ridiculous in simplistic terms, but it means that, "We look to those above for guidance and we look to those around us as well. When all is said and done we begin the cycle anew."

"That sounds wonderful. It kind of reminds me of the Will of Fire."

"It does resemble that in a way."

"So…um, what were those gate guards doing exactly?"

"Oh. They were using chakra strings to pull the doors open and then close them."

"With chakra strings?" Sakura questioned.

"In a way. One of the clans here used to be the Shadow Puppeteers of the hidden sand village when the puppets were first made. They used the elements to add on to their puppets instead of what they use today."

"I've heard of them, but I thought they died off."

"Not at all true. They were banished here, to the wasteland. They were on the outskirts of the border before Kirito found them and brought them here. With them, we learned that the walls we built are Takirock which allows some people, the shadow puppeteers for example, to utilize chakra through it when you first cut it as a person has chakra veins. But after that, no chakra can destroy it…besides a chakra enhanced punch from you perhaps," Naruto said earning a blush from Sakura as she twirled her hair with her finger and bit her lip slightly, making Naruto smile at her cuteness factor.

"Well, aren't I lucky?" Sakura said simply as they came out next to a straight field with what seemed to be archery targets made of stone. Sakura looked around and deduced that there were no ninja present at the moment.

"Don't assume with just your eyes Sakura-Chan." Naruto insisted before he raised his arm into the edge of the clearing and snapped his fingers three times. No sooner had he retracted his hand than fifteen arrows notched into the five stone targets, each splitting the arrow before it in the center.

Sakura awed as she was, kept glancing back down the field as they walked along the field closer to the ninja. Sakura was beginning to think the ninja had left after they had covered nearly two miles and past a formation of rocks, a stream, and a forest. It was just that no one could see or shoot through all that and still make their mark.

But Sakura was to be wrong as five ninja appeared in the near distance taking a break from their apparent training. Naruto raised his hand in greeting but had to stifle his laughter as Sakura became wide-eyed and ducked into the bushes before hiding behind a tree.

Sakura heard the laughter of the other ninja and her boyfriend and huffed in annoyance and with embarrassment hidden on her face went to greet the ninja. After learning their first names in exchange for hers, Naruto moved on to explain further as they continued on their .

"Sakura-Chan. These ninja are part of the Ruko Clan. They are as you can tell from their equipment, long range fighters and are better defined and classified as ninja archers." Receiving a nod from Sakura, Naruto continued.

"The Ruko have a bloodline limit in their eyes, which others called the Ruko eye, hence their change to their last name. The purely golden eyes allow them to see far ahead much like the Byakugan does, except it also shows them a path through, or around objects, which with their chakra infused bows, they can alter the speed, spin, and power behind the arrow while still containing the near-perfect accuracy."

"I guess the other ninja can't get close to them then." Sakura added in.

"On the contrary, we train with the archers frequently as a dodging practice of sorts. We have a saying that, 'If you can hear and dodge a Ruko arrow, you can hear and dodge a kunai or shuriken.'" (Dodge a wrench, dodge a ball ;) )

"So your village uses them to train younger ninja as well?"

"Yes. We have many lost clans with us as we take in many who were banished from the other villages. The other small villages simply can't exceed a larger capacity, but as you saw earlier, we have plenty of open space."

"But Naruto-Kun, the larger nations could see that as a militaristic approach." Sakura warned alarmed by such an open handed statement of fact.

"If they attack, we'll respond," Naruto stated with all seriousness in his voice that Sakura gulped worryingly as she knew that he meant what he said and she gulped down at the way he said it as it was her first experience of fear towards Naruto, "but we'll live further in peace in the knowing that we are always ready for war, are we not?"

"…I suppose so."

"As I was saying beforehand, the lost clans. We have many bloodlines, but also a lot of ninja that are couples or small families. We also have a couple of Sealing families."

"Seals? But Naruto-Kun, I thought that you learned about seals on your own, at least that what you told me."

"Indeed I did, but I learned a lot more from the other families as well."

Sakura nodded her head before she noticed a lot of eyes staring at her. Sakura looked up to see that they had walked into a busy sector of SkySora and saw a marketplace of people staring at her before Naruto waved them off and they moved back to their business, glancing at the couple every few seconds.

"Na-Naruto-Kun, why are people staring at me like I'm a piece of meat?"

"I'm sorry Sakura-Chan, but unlike in Konoha, it is well known why I leave the village."

"The letters?" Sakura guessed, with obvious shock in her voice. Naruto would have to leave every week to retrieve them and that thought made Sakura blush. "So everyone here knows of our relationship?" Sakura squeaked.

"…hmm, pretty much." Naruto admitted before a poof of smoke appeared before them.

Sakura watched as the smoke disappeared and a girl of what Sakura assumed to be eleven or twelve stood straight up as if she was reporting to her teacher. The girl had wavy brown hair that was parted completely to her left side. The traditional black pants and shirt with red lining that Sakura was starting to recognize as the nation's colors, were adorned on the girl, but unlike most of the ninja she had seen up to this point, the girl wore a cloud white jacket(more towards that of Asuna) with red lining. The girl's sky blue eyes reminded her almost of Naruto before an easygoing and happy smile adorned her face.

"Where have you been, Sensei?"

_Sensei? Naruto was a teacher?_

_Of course he is! He said so at the council meeting! _Sakura's inner replied.

"You know where I've been, Amy."

"I know, Naruto-Sensei, but you know me, just curious and all." The girl now known as Amy conceded.

"I know, just like your sister." Naruto sighed as he relaxed his stance.

"So…is this '_The Sakura_?'" Amy questioned as she looked over Sakura.

"Yes. This is Sakura Haruno. Sakura-Chan, this is Amy Namikaze."

Sakura widened her eyes at the name before looking to Naruto. "H-how? Did you find your relatives? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Oh? No. Sakura-Chan let me explain. Amy is adopted into my clan. Something of a thing we do with the orphans in the village. No orphans are without family, so I adopted her, her sister and brother, and a bunch of other kids. They live around my compound, but they are to choose their own last name when they reach sixteen."

"Oh." Sakura sighed, thinking that Naruto had taken a girl at such a young age, even though that really made no sense as he was for one inside Konoha at the time, and a three year old couldn't do that. (By now, Naruto is already sixteen, Sakura having turned sixteen in the hospital a few days before these events).

Sakura looked at Amy and saw her eyes looking intently at everything on her, around her, and seemed to even went to look right through her and into her soul.

"She'll do." Amy finally said after she had finished appraising Sakura before a smile graced her face, earning a gulp from Naruto that Sakura would soon find out meant trouble.

"She has a beautiful body and some great knockers for you to fool around with, Naruto-Nii-San." Amy simply put out there as Sakura gasped astonished before looking at Naruto to see him rubbing his eyes in tiredness.

"Amyyyyy," Naruto groaned. "We talked about this. You agreed not to bring up sexual comments about Sakura when she's in your presence."

"Sorry. I had my fingers crossed when I said that."

"We shook on both hands." Naruto deadpanned.

"Well, then it was in my mind of crossed fingers." Amy dismissed as she turned her attention back to her sensei's girlfriend. "Anyways, Sakura-Sensei,_ Sensei? I think I like that_, have you and my Sensei done it yet?" Sakura blushed harder making Amy frown. "I guess that means no. At least tell me you kissed." To Sakura's burning ears in embarrassment, Amy smiled. "Good for you Sensei."

"Amy, stop it."

"Awww!" Amy whined but complied. "Sorry. I have seals on my pulse to detect if people are telling me the truth or not. I'm a simple lie-detector!" Amy said in a chipper manner.

"And a growing seal master." Naruto implied annoyingly.

"That too!" Amy replied with a tongue to her Jounin teacher.

"Wow, and at such a young age?" Sakura asked.

"We're all trained at a young age. Yet we can't graduate the academy or leave for more advanced missions till we're fourteen now. It's such a drag on my reputation."

"Oh no!" Naruto mocked in a girly voice. "Kept in the village like everyone else. That so bad."

"Not for you, Naruto-Sensei, but to the rest of us. Speaking of leaving, did we get the okay yet to participate in the Chunnin exams yet?" Amy asked with hope in her eyes.

"Yes Amy, you will be able to enter into the exams starting next year."

At Naruto's answer, Amy immediately jumped fifteen feet in the air, flipping a one eighty and stuck underneath an overhang before waving goodbye to the couple and running off to join her teammates to tell them the good news.

Sakura looked over at Naruto in wonder. "Naruto, aren't all villages including small clan families allowed to enter the exams?"

"Yeah."

"Then why did-"

"You try keeping her inside the village when she's extremely hyper."

"Hmm." Sakura smiled and nodded in understanding as they began their walk again.

"I'm sure you were the same way growing up." Sakura guessed before earning a blush, smile and finally a nod from her boyfriend as they appeared in front of the tower to see the Sorakage.

* * *

Naruto and Sakura soon arrived before the chamber to the Sorakage. Sakura breathed in deeply trying to calm herself from meeting such an unknown yet influential person. This was a man who had created a village out of literally nothing and turned it into something great. A place where the village was prospering greatly and seemed to be continuously growing in its population due to the obvious excess of banished clans of the past.

That was something that Sakura would never know what to feel about. Her family was on the council of Konoha. They were of high citizen morale and of high standing. They were slowly breaching into the ninja sector, beginning with Sakura herself.

But these people were those that others had rejected. And Sakura had to admit that most, if not all of these people were nice and peaceful and happy in this place. They were banished and now they owed their happiness to the Sorakage.

That thought reminded Sakura suddenly of Naruto. He was a boy who had been banished for no real reason or crime. It was simply out of emotions and fear that had and still drove the council to banish a boy who neither knew of his actions or had been able to explain them at the time.

Sakura looked towards Naruto and grabbed his hand tightly, looking at a happy yet confused face on him. The Sorakage had given Naruto a second chance; her boyfriend a second chance; the one who she knew that she was steadily falling in love with had been given a second chance and Sakura desperately wanted to meet this person and thank him with all her might.

Sakura saw Naruto's hand move towards the handle, and as he twisted it downward the door slowly opened and Sakura walked forward into the Sorakage's office with Naruto right by her side.

Sakura looked around the room in awe. The room itself wasn't too large or too small, with wooden walls surrounding the room that seemed to gleam like diamonds in the reflection of the window, until it stopped to show that very window out looking over the village as if their Kage was always looking over them in peace. Before the window was a desk with a single chair behind it.

Sakura saw that the back of the chair was to them so the Sorakage must know that they are here. After all, what leader wouldn't be able to sense another presence when no jutsu had been activated? Sakura walked forward to the center of the room, the doors closing behind her, and despite Naruto's slight movement of warning, bowed down on her knees.

"It is an honor to meet you, Sorakage-Sama! I hope that SkySora and Konoha can live in prosperity and peace for the years to come!" Sakura shouted though she felt like she was whispering it due to her nervousness.

Naruto sighed deeply before walking forward, past Sakura, to the other side of the desk and next to the chair. Naruto placed his hands on top of the chair and spun it around to show Sakura…nothing.

"What?" Sakura asked with confusion and sadness written on her face. She had bowed low enough and started off all the procedures perfectly, and the Sorakage wasn't here. "W-where's the Sorakage, Naruto-Kun?"

"He's here already, Sakura-Chan." Naruto said before sitting down in the chair, making Sakura grow in anger.

"Naruto! You can't sit in that chair! That's treason; to place yourself as the Sorakage when he's obviously not here and-" Sakura shouted.

"Sakura!" Naruto shouted back, interrupting his girlfriend and watched as she shook in fright and became rigid as Naruto's loud voice took hold on her heart.

"Y-you-you yelled at me." Sakura said meekly as her crestfallen face bowed low to the ground. Naruto quickly got up and moved to the front of the desk and bended down to Sakura's level. The both of them on their knees as Sakura let some tears fall from her eyes as she leaned forward into Naruto's embrace as her hands clawed at his body.

Naruto felt the shaking figure of his girlfriend start to recede and knew that it was time to tell the truth. He grabbed Sakura's shoulders and gently pushed her back up till they were face to face.

"Sakura-Chan, I'm sorry for yelling, but I have something important to tell you." Naruto whispered enough for Sakura to hear it. Sakura smiled at his apology and nodded as she accepted his apology. She had been out of line to speak like that and Naruto was simply calming her down for something.

"W-what is it you want to tell me, Naruto-Kun?" Sakura asked finally.

Naruto gulped down before responding.

"Sakura-Chan, there has been something I should have told you a long time ago. When I met you again, on our trip, as soon as you awoke from your coma…so many times and I can't hide it anymore. I knew that making you ambassador would force me to tell the truth to you, the one who I hate lying to more than anything."

"Naruto? You know that you can tell me anything." Sakura assured Naruto as her hand graced his cheek. Naruto sighed in happiness as he placed his own hand on top of hers and looked deep into her emerald eyes that had caught Naruto's eyes.

"I am the Sorakage."

* * *

**How's that for a twist?! So predictable I know! Such a long chapter too, but too much to put into just the descriptions! AHHHHH!**

**R X R, tell me everything! What you thought about; the village, the lost clans, My own OC Amy, and the News of the Sorakage! R X R! Howl!**


	19. Sorakage and the Present

**Reviewers:**

* * *

**Liam Morg: Well, being a relative of Naruto changes people alright :)**

**Logan Locke: Really? I've never played or seen Skyrim, I just made what I thought would be a nice village outlook from an above standpoint. I hope you'll like Amy; she is 'charming' as you say, but like Naruto, very special. You'll see why later on. Wasn't really a real twist the story IS Called Sorakage! **

**Lonely Athena: Holy, did I leave you revier-less. (Heh, speechless) Glad to keep people on their toes.**

**ZeroTails317: Of course she is! I can't have an exact replica of a mini-Naruto female version without it, added a slight kakashi behavior into her. And I'm sorry you had to read that part with Sakura; I just believe that Sakura is a very expression-based character, cry a lot, yell a lot, smile a lot. She is the glutton for punishment for this story, and Narut is her savior. As for your two endings...they both sound great, but...not together in the same chapter.**

**7th Demon of Razgriz: Suddenly...'RazGriz!' huh? what? Razgriz, the teacher calls, stop dreaming about being kakashi-like and put on some clothes, the teacher says as razgriz looks around and notices the girl he likes looking t him before he realizes that he is only in his underwear and shoots off against the wall anime-style with blood running down his nose. Huh, the girl replies, pervert!...I'll always like you Ra-z-griz. She whispers before Razgriz passes out from blood loss.**

**Keeper of Worlds: OH! She'll have many antics for personal space, but we'll see deeper into her personality than that. Simple inventor I am, with wild ideas. Too bad they only work in the Naruto-verse. And so you missed a few chapters...DEATH!...or sentencing to read more of my story...choose wisely.**

**Sanbi: Thanks...I might try it, but I am sooooooo opposed to SasuSaku, they don't fit at all together in my opinion. But I'll try it out this week.**

**Nanai: You Really Didn't see it coming? That was...like...the BAM of the story. You'll be surprised for what I have planned next.**

**DiizGirlJess: I can't see why, but I think people just want Sasuke to be a good guy, well, he is in this one, just has someone besides Naruto's beloved Sakura-Chan. ;) As for Amy...a way with words? I guess my mind splits to her when I write, but yes she does have a good rep with it in the story. Where else are outcasts suppossed to rot and die in? Better make a village for that...and while we're at it, take out the rot and have a family and great lives as well.**

* * *

**AN: So...you guys loved AMY! And The Village! I'm SO HAPPPYYYYYY! On some other notes and side-notes, I am glad that you all listened to my AN last time and read carefully, now it is just a matter of memorizing them for later on in the story. Don't worry though, I'll remind you anyways. Now, for Sakura's reaction to what Naruto just said. Hope it's creative enough for you. I really shouldn't post another big chapter after the huge last one but this is too awesome and what not to not post for you guys.**

**Sorakage Arc II**

**Chapter 19: Sorakage and the Present**

Silence followed Naruto's admission. Naruto looked on, worried about Sakura's neutral expression, an expression not usually found on her face. He hated this expression as he couldn't tell what she was feeling and had to rely solely on what she said. Her eyes were his only indication that she had been utterly shocked at what he had said five minutes prior to the presenting of his title, and he worried that she would see him and two of them in any romantic sense in a different light.

After another minute, Naruto slowly brought his hand down from Sakura's face and to her shoulder as if to comfort her. Sakura seemed to respond to this, and as if coming out of a trance, started to blink and think as she normally would. Finally, Sakura seemed to fully come to her senses and speak, though she wasn't thinking like she usually did.

"So am I just one of your girls then?" Sakura whispered.

"What do you mean, Sakura-Chan? Naruto asked, uncomprehending her question, wondering why their relationship was at risk for something that Sakura thought wasn't there. There simply were no other girls besides Sakura in his life.

"Well, I mean…all other Kages have…well, um, h-harems." Sakura said with her head to the side and then downwards to the ground. Naruto realized what she wanted to know, but before he could begin, she continued, going off on her book smarts in a nervous dash.

"I mean, the Hokage has five girls, the Raikage seven, the Mizukage has twelve, one for each month, though they're males; even the smaller villages' Kages have small harems. So I must be one of a couple girls for you to use as you see fit, right?"

"Sakura-Chan…I-"

"I will simply do as you say, Sorakage-Sama." Sakura interrupted as she brought her hands in front of her head and dropped down further till it reached the plush carpets that adorned the office.

Tears threatened to fall down Sakura's face as her heart started to shatter at this new revelation that her boyfriend was the Sorakage. She would have to do things, things that she knew that she would never get out of. She'd do things; embarrassing things in public, in private, just to make him happy. She'd do things with other girls for his amusement and in the hope that he'd have her for the night. She, as a citizen of Konoha had seen the Hokage doing multiple things with his girls, and they all changed from year to year.

Sakura thought all this and yet felt content. She didn't mind public, private, or girlish things among a multitude of other things because she was falling in love with the man before her. He held her heart and future life in his hands. That alone would be enough for Sakura, and if he had a harem, she just hoped that he was happy, because that made her happy.

A pair of fingerless gloved hands grabbed the sleeves of Sakura's jacket and dragged it upward, dragging Sakura up with it. Sakura would have tried to look away, but a soft pair of lips encased her own at once and Sakura could barely resist before she herself succumbed to the passion that Naruto was giving to her.

After a minute of making out in a locked display of craving affections, Naruto backed away from Sakura before wrapping her in his embrace. Sakura's wide eyes stayed wide and became wider at what he said next.

"Now you listen to me, and you listen well. Why would I want another girl? The other Kages can do as they see fit, but I only need the most beautiful girl in the world by my side and that girl is you Haruno Sakura. If you want me to be with only you, then I will keep my hands to only you and myself. I promise this to you just as I am to protect this very village. I believe that I am falling for you, Sakura-Chan, and nothing in the world will change that."

Sakura sniffled as she felt a trail of happy tears fall down her face before she backed up and gave Naruto a smile that was saved for only him, and once they saw each other, they just embraced together in bliss for what seemed like eternity; an eternity of happiness.

* * *

(Two hours Later)

"Naruto-Kun, how did you become the Sorakage?" Sakura asked as she now sat on Naruto's lap as they looked out through the window into the village below them. Naruto had offered Sakura a seat but thanks to her playfulness and his punishment for making her cry, she had insisted on sitting in his lap and while he liked the feeling of Sakura's ass and body pressed upon him, the movements she made every few seconds were agonizingly painful for a certain part of his anatomy.

"Well, it was right after I got back from when I first met you, Sakura-Chan."

"Really? So... you at least didn't conceal it from me at the start of our relationship?" Sakura questioned.

"Of course not. Do you know how hard it was to not tell you in a letter? Or how much it hurt to not tell you when we were actually together for that matter, especially at Mizu Huki? I hated myself so much for being a coward." Naruto derided himself.

A gentle hand graced his cheek and Naruto immediately relaxed. "You don't have to worry about that anymore. What we can be sure of is to not prolong something like this ever again." Sakura replied honestly.

"Sakura-Chan…what would I do without you?" Naruto smiled causing Sakura to blush but smile nonetheless.

"Probably still rule this village, but with some other trixy at your side." Sakura humfed.

"Trixy? My, don't I have a jealous girlfriend?" Naruto smirked.

"Well, you promised that you'd keep your hand off other women, so now I can be as jealous as I want to be." Sakura smirked back.

"Okay, okay." Naruto conceded. "Anyways, when I got back from that mission and you, there was a council meeting to discuss the fort becoming an actual village, even though we had basically started work on a village and had mainly agreed to it."

"How does your council work anyways?"

"Well, you see Sakura-Chan, our council is brand new but we have eight seats for the founding clans, or rather members that started the village. Soon to be seven when Kirito and Asuna finally tie the knot." Seeing Sakura nod, Naruto continued on.

"After that, we have a twenty-one member council of representatives from around the village which will continue to grow as time goes on. Anyways, the eight of us sit in a circle at the base of this tower and the other council in a ring above us."

"A simple civilian asked whether we should have a Kage like all the other nations, and everyone agreed to the strongest and a ninja whose dreams could be lived out."

Sakura started to giggle when she realized what must have happened. "So they all chose you, didn't they?"

"Yeah, unanimous in both councils. And it was Asuna's doing too!" Naruto sighed animatedly. "She nominated me and made it seem like I was the reason why we were letting in so many great clans and whatnot."

"But Naruto-Kun, isn't that true?" Sakura questioned as she smiled at his obvious modesty.

"Well…yeah, but she didn't have to be so obvious about it," Naruto admitted as he grabbed Sakura's chest to pull closer before he suddenly heard Sakura moan out loud happily as she leaned back into Naruto's chest. Naruto's hands twitched and he realized what he had done and quickly removed his hands from Sakura's breasts, earning a groan at the removal of them.

Sakura quickly turned around in Naruto's lap and growled deep in his ear before nibbling at Naruto's earlobe. Naruto moaned a little before pushing Sakura away.

"Sakura-Chan, this isn't the time."

"But can't you just lock the door or go on lunch? For five minutes?" Sakura pleaded in a very girlish voice as her puppy dog eyes came to life. Naruto though had seen this coming and had quickly turned his head around and shook his head.

"Besides, I have a present for you, and it's time to go and pick it out." Naruto said, earning an unwanted but content sigh from his girlfriend. As her body left his, she leaned closer into Naruto.

"Fine for now, but tonight, you and me, in your room, some second base included. Okay?" Sakura whispered seductively. Naruto's eyes widened and he gulped before slowly nodding his head slowly. Sakura smiled before the two of them were seen leaving the tower and into the dark woods beyond.

* * *

Once the pair entered the woods, they were anything but dark. In fact, Sakura could see that the forest was rich in age and good growth. Then again, this place had been without human interaction for nearly the beginning of the ninja era and past the birth of shinobi villages.

As Sakura was asking questions as they walked through the forest, they came upon a large hole in a tree directly in front of them. Sakura looked to Naruto who nodded and realized that this was the place that he had been leading her towards. Without any sight of hesitation, Sakura headed through the opening of the tree.

In front of Sakura were ten or so adult foxes and they all seemed to be watching her with motherly eyes. Sakura rethought about it and decided that these must be mother foxes. But if so, then shouldn't their kits be around since it was that time of the year? Besides that, what had Naruto planned for her?

Suddenly, a flash of green light appeared and Sakura watched in awe as another mother fox appeared in the green flash which seemed like…chakra! These were-

"Sakura-Chan, these are demon foxes." Naruto mentioned from behind her. Sakura moved sideways as Naruto came next to her, and together, they sat down. Sakura watched as out of another hole inside the tree, twelve to seventeen baby foxes came out from around the green chakra and jumped into a small wooden fenced in area that Sakura had failed to see beforehand.

"I've told you about the demon fox and wolf dual summoning pack. They live in their own worlds, but they come here into these very woods to have their kits and pups. This is also the time that younger shinobi are chosen as partners for the foxes and wolves.

"Usually, one fox and two to three wolves are those that are chosen with each shinobi. So that's why I brought you here, Sakura-Chan. To pick out a fox and some wolves to have as your very own."

"But Naruto-Kun, I'm not any good at summoning and I'm not sure your village wants an outsider to sign the contracts." Sakura advised her boyfriend.

"The contract doesn't need to be signed for this kind of summoning, Sakura-Chan. And besides, the wolves and fox are loyal to their partner only, no one else, except maybe the partner's…um, significant other and children." Naruto coughed out the last part.

"So, what do I do?" Sakura asked as she got up.

"Basically, you go to that wooden playpen and choose a baby fox. You'll have a mental inkling of which one you want."

Sakura began to walk forward before her eyes wandered over to a white mother fox with a red stripe going down its middle back fur. The fox didn't seem to follow her around like the others and kept its eyes straight ahead. It didn't seem to be breathing either.

"I-is that one d-dead?" Sakura asked as she pointed out the fox to Naruto. Naruto moved forward and petted the fox down and went through checking for any signs before sighing.

"Yes, she's dead. Demon foxes are hard to kill and live as long as a hundred years, but with the females, they do sometimes die in and just after childbirth."

"W-What will happen to the kits?" Sakura asked already knowing the answer.

"The kit won't be able to live without its mother and if it's not chosen, then it has no chance at all. Even without its mother, the kit will be a runt and won't ever grow to full adulthood. It will have the mind of a teenager maybe at the most, but always playful, and in the world of demon and ninja, that gets them killed."

"Could I…I don't know, have that fox's kit, then?" Sakura asked with determination in her eyes. Naruto sighed again before shaking his head.

"You can try, but you'll have to chance it when you choose your fox. If it can't be your partner in your mind, then it won't survive at all as your partner on the field of ninja."

"Okay." Sakura walked over to the pen and smiled as a dozen foxes suddenly jumped up against the wooden bars welcoming the newcomer to their play place. Some of the foxes climbed on top of the others in total kit fashion to get higher and raised their little front paws on top of the wooden posts tumbling over onto their brothers and sisters before jumping up again, while a few not participating simply raised their heads to see who it was before resting those very heads back to the ground, probably going back to sleep. Naruto informed Sakura that all of these foxes were two to three weeks old and very playful at this age.

Sakura looked to the far back and noticed a small line of white fur that seemed to disappear underneath a newspaper. Before Sakura knew what she was doing, she had hopped the short wall and had bent down next to the newspaper.

Slowly, Sakura reached down and picked up the newspaper and pushed it over to the side. A small fox, smaller than the rest and pure white in color, lay on the ground before Sakura, with its eyes barely open as if it had just been sleeping. After a few seconds, the fox peed all over the ground before slowly retreating into the corner of the pen, a sign that it was embarrassed to be looked at by Sakura.

Sakura followed it and held out her hand in front of the fox. The kit seemed hesitant for a long couple seconds before taking a sniff of the hand. After it did so, Sakura reached down and started scratching the kit's ear, earning a weak but sickly sounding purr. Sakura finally picked up the kit and walked back to Naruto with a small smile on her face.

"I choose this one."

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"She reminds me of when I was young and when others would leave me and I just wanted to be alone. All the other foxes have stripes, but she doesn't making her seem like an outcast. But I made it out okay, and I want to take care of Kate."

"Kate? Is that what you named her?"

Sakura chuckled lightly as she brought Kate up to her face and nuzzled her nose, earning a weak but playful paw in the air from Kate before a foxish smirk appeared on her face.

"Congratulations, Sakura-Chan. That is the runt of the deceased mother fox. I have to warn you though, she'll be very hard in keeping care of. She'll have to be watched night and day for the next few months, and she'll need constant care for the next couple of years as well. On a good note, runts that live are known to be great messengers and the fastest of the demon foxes. But she will be a handful."

"I accept the challenge, Naruto-Kun. Can I take her home tonight?"

"Of course. I have all the supplies you'll need at my place." Naruto answered.

"Your place? Really, Naruto-Kun?" Sakura asked, obviously annoyed at his stupidity.

"What's wrong with my place?"

"Nothing. I-I just thought about tonight and…"

"…Oh!...Well, um…let's get going, shall we?"

"What about the wolves?"

"Don't worry about them right now. First, Kate must survive the next few months, and then she'll use her own chakra to summon her partners in the wolves' packs to meet you, though with Kate being a runt, she might not be connected with the wolves to enough."

"Okay then let's get back to your house."

* * *

Naruto and Sakura entered Naruto's house about an hour later, though they were both soaked to the bone thanks to a sudden shower of rain that had poured into the forest. Kate was completely dry, being wrapped in Sakura's jacket while Sakura herself was completely wet with her blouse too thin and mainly transparent. Luckily for her, she had worn a white undershirt.

"There are actually a lot of sudden showers here due to the atmosphere. When we first got here, everyone got colds all the time." Naruto told Sakura as they traveled over to the kitchen after putting their jackets up and their taking their shoes off near the door.

"Shouldn't we make a fire then?" Sakura asked, "and get something hot?"

"Sometimes Sakura-Chan, you're such a bookworm."

"And proud of it." Sakura laughed at Naruto's comment. As she settled down, Sakura continued. "So, how about we change clothes, you make the fire, and I'll cook up something hot."

"So you'll warm yourself up? Naruto asked smirking as he did so. Sakura not one to reject such an obvious flirt draped her arms around Naruto's neck and let her legs go limp. "Why Naruto-Kun, that's so sweet of you, but I'd have to take a shower, and that could be a problem, because a girl stripping in your house? What would the villagers say?"

"They'd say that you are so worth it." Naruto said simply.

Sakura broke out in a fit of laughter before giving a lick kiss on Naruto's lips. "So then, let's change. Where's my room?"

"Second door to the left."

"And yours?"

"Why would yo- oh, mine's the second on the right."

"Mnhmm, thought so. Well, anyways, Ja ne!" Sakura called out before picking up a scroll of clothes and Kate and skipping over to her 'ambassador's' room and closed the door behind her.

* * *

**AN: So, Sakura got a baby fox, a kit to be precise. What do you guys think of that? R X R! **

**Howl!**


	20. Where to go from here?

**Lonely Athena: It's hard for me to think of Japanese names that I can live with, but there are a few more names to add to future chapters and I promise to you that they'll at least sound Japanese. as for being kage...of course men would! Though, for me at least, it's hard enough getting one girl to go out with you. How can you hope to handle more than that?**

**Zerotails317: Figured that it would be a good twist to the story. something small and yet major for the story to work. You'll see it play out. As for Danzo, I'll explain lower down since you raised out a pretty good point and I thank you for that.**

**Keeper of Worlds: I thought that the whole blood bond didn't really work out to my own ideals as well as if wolves and foxes smell blood, they tend to check on their packs and dens first. But yeah, I was hoping for a unique bonding. After all, it is a dual summoning contract.**

**7th Demon of Razgriz: Razgriz wakes up and realizes that he was simply having a good dream. Now off to school you go!**

**Logan Locke: Just looked at it a bit just now, but mine design is better than theirs in my head. Also, what's with Skyrim and basically naked girls all over the place?! Talk about a huge temptation...anywho, the fluff is not yet over, as shown below. And damn! you guess the next chapter too! What are you, a pseudo-psychic as a side job? But no, Sakura will be going baby crazy as of just yet. They haven't even done the deed yet. One thing at a time though I hope you'll love Kate in the next chapter. :) (Evil eyes)**

**Logan 2: It popped up.**

**DiizGirlJess: You want an arctic fox pup? Awesome. Actually, in five more years, foxes will be known to be labeled as 'domesticated' because lab tests were done in Russia on behavioral patterns. Foxes act like loyal dogs that crave affection. That was the main article in Time magazine. Oh! and maybe it was a typo, but Naruto DOES NOT have ANY other girls besides Sakura. Second, the village IS a sanctuary. I was just implying how most people die where they live and that they live a great life in SkySora instead of dying in the harsher environments of the wasteland and being subjected to attacks by hunter ninja.**

**Leafstone: Thanks. I'm pretty proud of it.**

**Nikki1314: Glad to have made a new 'theme'? I think. Could you explain that a bit? And are you a new reader to my story? Happy to have you.**

* * *

**AN: Thank you for all those who have read and reviewed. A reviewer named Zerotails317 helped to point out the old age of Danzo, so for this fiction story, I am lowering his age! Think of him now as upper forties- around forty-eight. As for the harems and such, these are Not Young Girls... all around their own Kage's ages. Just had to point that out. So now we can move on with this part of the story.**

**AN2: Also to point out that I meant to add this shorter portion into the previous scene, but it was long enough and so was the previous chapter, so this is a little AWWWW moment and some background for you readers.**

_**Previously on Sorakage;**_

_"So you'll warm yourself up? Naruto asked smirking as he did so. Sakura not one to reject such an obvious flirt draped her arms around Naruto's neck and let her legs go limp. "Why Naruto-Kun, that's so sweet of you, but I'd have to take a shower, and that could be a problem, because a girl stripping in your house? What would the villagers say?"_

_"They'd say that you are so worth it." Naruto said simply._

_Sakura broke out in a fit of laughter before giving a lick kiss on Naruto's lips. "So then, let's change. Where's my room?"_

_"Second door to the left."_

_"And yours?"_

_"Why would yo- oh, mine's the second on the right."_

_"Mnhmm, thought so. Well, anyways, Ja ne!" Sakura called out before picking up a scroll of clothes and Kate and skipping over to her 'ambassador's' room and closed the door behind her._

**_And now, the continuation of our story:_**

**Sorakage Arc 2**

**Chap 20: Where to go from here?**

* * *

"What did she mean by that?" Naruto questioned as he closed the door to his room and took off his black Jounin jacket, before following it with his black shirt. "I mean, of course I would place her in my house. She's my girlfriend for kami's sake!"

Girlfriend. That name still sounded so alien to Naruto as he switched out his Anbu pants for some simple black sweats. The word given to those that held affection for the other. Companionship to the maximum potential and still being such great friends.

Sakura was someone that Naruto felt so different about. That was the reason that he had started to date her. She seemed so strange and yet had become a constant in Naruto's life. Naruto doubted that he could really live anymore if she was out of his life. Now that Sakura was here with him, would he even be able to let her go? Away from him for a year, a month, even a single day?

As Naruto put on a white undershirt, he wondered why he even thought this. She lived in another village, and was bound to that village of Konoha. Sure, he could try to convince the village to let go of Sakura, but to what lengths would he have to concede in order for that to happen?

Naruto quickly shook his head and decided that this conversation could come later. As for Sakura however, she was thinking something along the same lines.

* * *

Sakura sighed as she placed her bag on the bed that was laid out before her before turning backwards and launched her body onto the bed as well. As Sakura stared off into the ceiling above her head, Sakura remembered back to earlier in the day when Naruto had announced to her that he was the Sorakage.

Before this when they had just started dating, this was a simple question of which of them would switch villages if they eventually got married. Sakura knew that it was a possible chance when she had gotten through those dates that her father had set up for her. She was a patient woman, and Sakura was also one to see far possibilities, so it made sense to see marriage as a possibility.

But This? It changed everything for Naruto's and her future together. When before they could both switch from their respective villages. They could be a family in SkySora or Konoha. They could be together all day, every day.

Now though, Naruto wasn't any normal ninja; he was the freaking Kage of the Village! He was the leader that would take this growing village on a path of prosperity and lead them into the next age of ninja! But…would she be by his side?

Sakura massaged the temple of her head as she thought over that question. Could she really leave her village just like that? With this promotion to ambassador, she was called to uphold a certain degree of affiliation to the village that was called to match that of even the Hokage himself. To hold the secrets of both villages and not tell either of what she knew.

Sakura knew that in the past ambassadors had held relationships and eventual marriages between villages and she had also known that most moved To Konoha, not the other way around. And now, the situation could only move to SkySora. With Naruto as the leader, there was no room for him to leave, but every right for Sakura to move out of Konoha.

But could Sakura leave her home? Could she leave her family who themselves were not only a civilian council head, but the head of the civilian council? Could she leave her friends forever from her life?

Sakura sighed as she got up to change her clothes; she didn't have to think about this right now. She had a lot of time and she didn't even know if Naruto would even ask her. Though she had to admit that the way they were pacing their relationship, he'd probably ask her after they'd finally had sex and she knew that even though they were becoming more and more intimate, they were going slow and learning more and more about the other day after day.

* * *

A couple hours later, Naruto found himself sitting on his couch with Sakura's head resting in his lap as Kate was rested on the other side of the couch in a small white ball. A roaring fireplace blazed in front of them, but Naruto's thoughts were elsewhere.

Sakura now knew the truth about him. Everything with in her hands as he had thrown out his life into her life. They had come back to his home and had seated themselves around the kitchen where Sakura had surprisingly raided Naruto's pantry and cooked up the best ramen that Naruto had tasted in his entire life.

Sakura had giggled at Naruto's astounded face and admitted spending the past months finding out the secrets to ramen since learning of Naruto's new favorite food. Naruto had smiled and said that he appreciated her dedication and wished that he could be so dedicated to her, much to the amusement of Sakura who had decided that a make out session was next in the order of the night's events.

Now, for their final event, the two had decided to lay by the fire, just watching the flames in a contained space as their wet clothes dried on the screen next to the roaring inferno. Naruto felt a slight movement in his lap and looked down to see bright emerald eyes staring back into his own cerulean ones. The eyes looked as if she had a question in her thoughts and Naruto had the need to find out what.

"What's on your mind, Sakura-Chan?" Naruto asked as he swept his hand through Sakura's pink locks.

Sakura sighed as she looked back at the fire. "I guess that I'm that obvious."

"Only to someone who is trying to watch out for the one he loves." Naruto replied earning a gasp from Sakura. Sakura turned her eyes back to Naruto's before her lips moved, slowly making a quiet question.

"Y-you love me?" Sakura squeaked, stunned at the sudden acknowledgement, and what might have been a slip of the tongue.

"…I do," Naruto said as he leaned down to kiss Sakura's forehead before he placed her hair back in place.

"Oh Naruto-Kun," Sakura said as she leaned up and hugged Naruto. "But Naruto-Kun, how will we do this? How can we stay together? You're the Sorakage, and I'm a freaking council level heir. You deserve a princess in your arms, not some girl dreaming into the stars."

A long silence followed Sakura's questions. She asked such pinpoint and such important questions to ask. Naruto thought these things over before smiling simply and dragged Sakura's eyes towards the fire before them.

"Sakura-Chan, I don't know how to answer these questions that you ask. I don't know what we must do to keep this relationship alive. It's like a fire; it burns with its own will as long as there is wood to burn and preferable air to support it for as long as it lives. But take those out and the fire quickly dies out. But you know, we don't need anyone besides each other. I'm starting to believe that I want you more than even this village that I am supposed to protect, Sakura-Chan." Sakura's eyes widened at that news as Naruto continued.

"We could live off in a small cottage away from any border, away from villages. We could live in the largest city of Konoha or this new village of SkySora. It doesn't matter to me in any sense. You may be a girl looking to the stars, but the stars are in the Sky, and I don't need a princess by my side for two reasons; one you are a princess in my eyes even if you were a simple clan less girl, and I kind of like a girl who has dreams about the future set in the stars above."

"….Oh Naruto-Kun," Sakura sighed as she brought Naruto in for a passionate kiss for his inspiring speech for their relationship. As they separated though, Sakura slapped Naruto's cheek with a backhand, "But! Never leave this village for me, never. You hear? These people have utter faith in you and look to you for guidance. We can have this relationship and our villages, but we'll solve that later on."

Sakura smiled as she leaned her head on Naruto's shoulder before yawning cutely in a foxish yip-like manner, and to their surprise, heard another yip from Kate before they both happily shrugged and got into more comfortable positions. Kate got out of her ball and carefully moved onto the couch's armrest before twisting around three times; Sakura placed her body across Naruto's lap as her head landed on the other armrest before Sakura slowly drowsed off to sleep.

As Naruto started to close his eyes to the ever coming sleep, he laughed a bit as he remembered Sakura's earlier comment earlier in the day. '_That's okay for now, but later we'll have some __**fun.**_' Oh how the irony as he remembered those thoughts now. But then again, their talk had been enlightening, and as Naruto doused off to sleep, he had to admit that the constant closeness and intimate kissing was definitely a fun memory that he would brand into his memory for the hard days ahead.

* * *

**Oh how you have to love these moments of pure bliss. Until next time, Timberwolfe...Out!**


End file.
